Engagement must not be left by the wayside during coronavirus pandemic, ethicists warn
Coronavirus research in Africa needs to avoid fuelling distrust in science in vulnerable communities, a trio of ethicists argue in a letter published on 11 June.
The three—Paulina Tindana from the University of Ghana, Jantina de Vries from the University of Cape Town in South Africa, and Dorcas Kamuya from the KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Research Programme in Kenya—warn that Covid-19-curbing measures such as lockdowns could inhibit avenues for traditional approaches used in community engagement.
Writing in an as-yet unreviewed open letter on the African Academy of Sciences’ Open Research platform, the three argue that historical mistrust of research could worsen during the pandemic as a result of misinformation. If international funders come and carry out sensitive research without securing local buy-in, this could tar local researchers with the same brush, they add.
Researchers engaging African communities should not just be careful when doing research linked to Covid-19, the authors continue. Researchers should be mindful when engaging communities on other topics as well. Travel restrictions may have brought other research to a halt, and it’s important that researchers explain why this is, and the effects it could have, to communities where the halted research was taking place.
Communities may also expect help from research institutions with whom they have a long-term relationship, the three write. “Researchers will need to carefully consider how existing relations of trust can be honored or maintained during the pandemic, and what the risks are for interrupting or discontinuing such relations.”
Looking to the future, Covid-19 will affect how research is done, the letter’s authors write. They say researchers should make use of digital and remote tools to conduct research, but be aware of the additional ethical challenges this can throw up. “[This] may also lead to the furthering of digital inequality through excluding community members who do not own or have access to mobile devices, the internet or radio – often the marginalized and poorest in the community,” they write.