A comparative study of COVID-19 tests in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda: Situating the knowns and unknowns in the COVID-19 pandemic

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The main objective of this research project is to provide a comparative study of diagnostic testing in the COVID-19 response in Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). The project will employ a grounded theory approach to study testing as a technology of knowing. Fol-lowing this approach, we maintain that studying what people know cannot be separated from a consideration of how they know. Based on this approach, we will examine how COVID-19 testing in the two countries makes, both, knowing and unknowing—the latter comprising strategic ignorance, public secrets, speculation, and silent knowing—possible. This focus on knowing and unknowing offers an important analytical frame to study people’s assessment of the severity of the pandemic in the two countries and the consequences of knowing and unknowing for people’s health-seeking practices in the context of the pandemic