Public Understanding and Voluntary Responsibility to Mitigate COVID-19 Pandemic: Role of Local Community Organizations in Information Sharing and Health Literacy

To combat the COVID-19 public health crisis, civil society needs to complement government efforts. National governments have applied different mitigating strategies like the implementation of strict closures. In response to pandemic situations, normally governments tell people what to do with minimal community input. This study argues that local community organizations have an important role in practical information sharing and health literacy in a pandemic situation. Although pandemics like COVID-19 do not create physical destruction to disrupt the information stream, there is a concern that poor health literacy and information gaps can significantly contribute to the rapid spread of uncertainty, fear, and anxiety. This paper emphasizes the potential role of community workers in the dissemination of transparent and honest communication at the grassroots level. This information sharing is critical because more informed communities are more receptive to the implementation of the prescribed preventive measures. National governments need to make sure that the requisite enabling and reinforcing structures are in place to fully leverage the behaviour changing and voluntary control efforts of community organizations. Governments should develop sufficient infrastructures to provide substantial training and support resources to community workers. Volunteers who perform community-facing roles need to be provided adequate personal protective equipment. National governments and civil society need to work collaboratively for the realization of not only the short-term COVID-related policy goals but also the long-term health-related sustainable development goals.