COVID-19 Pandemic: Conceptions, beliefs and practices of community members from different socio-cultural backgrounds

The COVID-19 pandemic started in Wuhan, China, in December 2019 and spread across the globe infecting and killing millions of people. Anecdotal evidence shows that most affected countries have experienced five main hindrances to their efforts to control the COVID-19 pandemic; these are (i) challenges in implementing preventative measures effectively, (ii) health care delivery systems that could not cope with the pandemic, (iii) limited resources, (iv) limited acceptance/adoption of public health interventions by some members of communities, and (v) socio-cultural dynamics that are not fully understood but have a bearing on efforts to curb the pandemic. Due to the mode of transmission of COVID-19, the socio-cultural dimensions of the COVID-19 pandemic should be an important component of research conducted on the pandemic. This research project is therefore aimed at investigating conceptions, beliefs and practices of community members from different socio-cultural backgrounds that can potentially affect prevention, transmission and treatment of covid-19 infections. The research project, conducted in South Africa and Zimbabwe, focuses on socio-cultural dynamics, yet within consideration that the pandemic is playing out within a complex, shifting system where it is almost impossible to isolate distinct elements without taking into account the knock-on effects within any complex system. Community members' conceptions, beliefs and practices affect the effectiveness of public health interventions to prevent or treat COVID-19 infections, hence the need to develop and implement evidence-based approaches of factoring socio-cultural dynamics into COVID-19 related interventions, policies, regulations and or guidelines. Most importantly, socio-cultural dynamics have a bearing on the extent to which communities accept vaccination, which is critical for the attainment of herd immunity nationally, regionally and globally. Expected Outputs Overall, findings of the research project will enable some evidence-based socio-cultural dimensions of the covid-19 pandemic to be factored into national, regional, continental and global responses (short-term, medium term and long term) to the COVID-19 pandemic in particular and any future disease epidemics or pandemics in general. Responses and interventions that are responsive to socio-cultural realities prevailing in the communities have greater potential to create a sense of collective ownerships that would in turn enhance acceptability by the communities. Such cooperation and support at grassroots levels would go a long way in minimising the need for strict enforcement of measures, which in the past have turned violent or fatal in some cases, aimed at preventing transmission of the COVID-19 infections. Findings from the study will form a basis for quantitative or mixed methods research focused on socio-cultural issues surrounding COVID-19.