Belief in the time of Covid-19: Understanding the making of meaning and trust to maximise public health responsiveness of faith communities in DRC

在刚果民主共和国，宗教团体及其医疗服务是减少传染的核心。他们应该紧急部署。宗教信仰和传统治疗方法是刚果人民理解疾病和应对疾病的框架的一部分。了解对新冠肺炎的背景反应对减少其传播至关重要。信仰社区支持刚果民主共和国东北部50%以上的生物医学护理。他们是重要的、值得信赖的护理提供者。他们在社区和专业部门之间架起桥梁，提供支持性网络、医疗和治愈祈祷。他们领导了对最近爆发的埃博拉（2018-2020年期间死亡2，250人）和麻疹（自2019年以来死亡6，500人）的医疗反应和社会限制。他们拥有疾病管理知识，是制定社区主导的地方性霍乱、艾滋病毒、疟疾、脑膜炎、瘟疫解决方案的组成部分。他们在面对多重损失和反复疾病时的复原力使人们了解社区的恢复能力。然而，刚果民主共和国的信仰-健康信仰并不总是导致积极的疾病控制。埃博拉病毒等疾病的爆发，推动了人们对生命、死亡、疾病、治愈、看得见和看不见的东西的特定信念，当没有治愈方法或疫苗时，这些信念可以为身体距离提供有吸引力的替代方案，关闭社区组织和改变通过仪式。我们研究了信仰在刚果民主共和国的应用，在那里信仰社区正在领导对新冠肺炎的卫生保健反应，19科学和精神在同一个概念框架内运作。在许多非洲国家，记录在案的新型冠状病毒病例数很低。这在一定程度上与缺乏诊断和测试有关。刚果民主共和国于2020年3月10日在金沙萨发现了第一例记录在案的病例。但直到5月，该国只有一家机构有检测能力。人数稳步上升，据报在伊图里和北基伍。新型冠状病毒疫情加剧了该地区紧迫的医疗和安全问题。然而，2019冠状病毒病也突显了一个熟悉流行病的地区在疾病管理和复原力方面的良好做法。我们询问如何理解、交付和采取行动COVID-19以及缓解和管理的公共卫生战略。我们的目标是了解、预测和减轻公众对民事应急措施的不良反应。在没有治愈方法或疫苗的情况下，利用可信赖的社区进行公共卫生应对是减少死亡人数的最佳机会。然而，高收入国家采取的措施可能不适合低收入国家，它们很少考虑宗教信仰的话语。项目团队的刚果成员已经在调查伊图里和北基伍省围绕新型冠状病毒肺炎的有意义的话语。他们正在确定疾病管理知识，以及支持和批评保护和预防做法的社区信仰。这次深入检查的结果将用于共同创建值得信赖和值得信赖的公共卫生信息，并允许在信仰社区中有效地紧急动员志愿者。我们对当代宗教信仰的研究考察了信仰社区及其医疗服务的信仰和道德能力，以最大限度地提高社区激励行动并确保社区所有权。这是一项及时的工作，对新型冠状病毒肺炎（COVID-19，即2019冠状病毒病）之后的疾病预防具有影响。它为关于如何在脆弱国家提高公共卫生能力的辩论提供了信息，在这些国家，国家政府很少支持所需的结构转型。

In Democratic Republic of Congo(DRC), faith communities and their medical services are central to reducing contagion. They should be urgently deployed. Religious belief and traditional healing practices are part of the framework in which Congolese people understand disease and respond to it. Understanding the contextual response to Covid-19 is vital to reducing its spread. Faith Communities support over 50% of biomedical care in North-east DRC. They are vital, trusted providers of care. They bridge community and professional sectors, providing supportive networks, medical treatment, prayers for healing. They have led medical response and social restrictions to the recent outbreaks of Ebola (2,250 dead between 2018-2020) and measles (killed 6,500 since 2019). They have knowledge of disease management and are integral to developing community-led solutions to endemic cholera, HIV, malaria, meningitis, plague. Their resilience in the face of multiple losses and repeated disease give insight into communities' capacity for restoration. Yet faith-health beliefs in DRC do not always lead to positive disease control. Disease outbreaks, like Ebola, propel particular beliefs about life, death, sickness, healing, the seen and unseen that, when there is no cure or vaccine, can present appealing alternatives to physical distancing, closure of community organisations and alterations to rites of passage.We examine the application of belief in DRC where faith communities are leading the health-care response to Covid-19 and where the scientific and spiritual operate within the same conceptual framework. Recorded cases of Covid-19 are low in many African countries. This is, in part, related to a lack of diagnosis and testing. DRC had its first recorded case in Kinshasa on 10th March 2020. But until May only one institution in the country had testing capacity. Numbers have risen steadily, and been reported Ituri and Nord-Kivu. Covid-19 compounds the urgent medical and security concerns of the region. Yet Covid-19 also highlights good practice of disease management and resilience in a region that is familiar with epidemics. We ask how Covid-19 and the public health strategies for mitigation and management are being understood, delivered, and actioned. We aim to understand, predict and mitigate adverse public reactions to civil contingency measures. A public health response using trusted communities is the best chance of reducing the death toll whilst there is no cure or vaccine. However, the measures taken in High Income Countries may not be appropriate for LMICs, and they rarely consider discourses of religious faith. The Congolese members of the project team are already investigating meaning-making discourses around Covid-19 in Ituri and Nord-Kivu. They are identifying disease management knowledge, and communal beliefs that support and critique protection and prevention practices. Findings from this in-depth examination will be used to co-create public health messages that are trusted and trustworthy and allow effective, emergency mobilisation of volunteers in faith communities. Our study of contemporary religious belief examines the beliefs and moral capacity of faith communities and their medical services to maximise community-inspired action and ensure community ownership. It is a timely piece of work that has implications for disease prevention beyond Covid-19. It informs a debate on how to increase public health capacity in fragile states where national governments rarely support the structural transformation required.