Community engagement to support public health: mixed-method evaluation evidence on COVID-19 attitudes and practices in Lao PDR
Background Community engagement has been recognized as a key tool for supporting national health agendas, and experiences from the COVID-19 pandemic can offer important lessons for tackling future global health challenges such as antimicrobial resistance. This paper provides much-needed evaluation k...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Taylor & Francis Group
2025-12-01
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| Series: | Global Health Action |
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| Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/16549716.2025.2485523 |
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| author | Marco J. Haenssgen Elizabeth M. Elliott Sandra Bode Ounkham Souksavanh Thongkhoon Xayyahong Hironori Okabayashi Shogo Kubota |
| author_facet | Marco J. Haenssgen Elizabeth M. Elliott Sandra Bode Ounkham Souksavanh Thongkhoon Xayyahong Hironori Okabayashi Shogo Kubota |
| author_sort | Marco J. Haenssgen |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Background Community engagement has been recognized as a key tool for supporting national health agendas, and experiences from the COVID-19 pandemic can offer important lessons for tackling future global health challenges such as antimicrobial resistance. This paper provides much-needed evaluation knowledge on relational community engagement initiatives and their impact on COVID-19-related attitudes and practices. Methods A two-round mixed-method evaluative study to examine outcome indicators related to COVID-19-prevention and health-seeking behavior was implemented from October 2022 to December 2023 among 14 diverse case study communities in four Lao provinces. Data involved 50 semi-structured interviews with villagers, 50 key informant interviews, and two rounds of complete census surveys (3,161 survey observations incl. matched panel data from 618 individuals) to discern outcomes among villagers with different levels of activity participation in a difference-in-difference analysis. Results Relative to non-participating villagers, villagers participating in the activities had higher COVID-19 vaccine uptake (+0.13 doses), higher public healthcare utilization for presentations consistent with COVID-19 (e.g. fever and neurological and/or respiratory symptoms; +69.4% points), and less antibiotic use per illness episode (−0.2 antibiotic use episodes). However, the activity raised worries to disclose a COVID-19-positive status and was often interpreted as a health education campaign. Conclusions Relational community engagement offers a respectful way of addressing persistent healthcare challenges and supporting vulnerable populations – and thus holds key for ongoing global health priorities such as emerging infectious disease responses and antimicrobial resistance. We recommend that community engagement initiatives become a standard component of national health policy portfolios beyond the scope of COVID-19. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-0d9dd5f9ffbc4be8be26708bfa2091e3 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 1654-9880 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-12-01 |
| publisher | Taylor & Francis Group |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Global Health Action |
| spelling | doaj-art-0d9dd5f9ffbc4be8be26708bfa2091e32025-08-20T03:52:57ZengTaylor & Francis GroupGlobal Health Action1654-98802025-12-0118110.1080/16549716.2025.24855232485523Community engagement to support public health: mixed-method evaluation evidence on COVID-19 attitudes and practices in Lao PDRMarco J. Haenssgen0Elizabeth M. Elliott1Sandra Bode2Ounkham Souksavanh3Thongkhoon Xayyahong4Hironori Okabayashi5Shogo Kubota6Chiang Mai UniversityWorld Health Organization Regional Office for the Western PacificCountry Office for Lao People’s Democratic RepublicCountry Office for Lao People’s Democratic RepublicCountry Office for Lao People’s Democratic RepublicCountry Office for Lao People’s Democratic RepublicWorld Health Organization Regional Office for the Western PacificBackground Community engagement has been recognized as a key tool for supporting national health agendas, and experiences from the COVID-19 pandemic can offer important lessons for tackling future global health challenges such as antimicrobial resistance. This paper provides much-needed evaluation knowledge on relational community engagement initiatives and their impact on COVID-19-related attitudes and practices. Methods A two-round mixed-method evaluative study to examine outcome indicators related to COVID-19-prevention and health-seeking behavior was implemented from October 2022 to December 2023 among 14 diverse case study communities in four Lao provinces. Data involved 50 semi-structured interviews with villagers, 50 key informant interviews, and two rounds of complete census surveys (3,161 survey observations incl. matched panel data from 618 individuals) to discern outcomes among villagers with different levels of activity participation in a difference-in-difference analysis. Results Relative to non-participating villagers, villagers participating in the activities had higher COVID-19 vaccine uptake (+0.13 doses), higher public healthcare utilization for presentations consistent with COVID-19 (e.g. fever and neurological and/or respiratory symptoms; +69.4% points), and less antibiotic use per illness episode (−0.2 antibiotic use episodes). However, the activity raised worries to disclose a COVID-19-positive status and was often interpreted as a health education campaign. Conclusions Relational community engagement offers a respectful way of addressing persistent healthcare challenges and supporting vulnerable populations – and thus holds key for ongoing global health priorities such as emerging infectious disease responses and antimicrobial resistance. We recommend that community engagement initiatives become a standard component of national health policy portfolios beyond the scope of COVID-19.http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/16549716.2025.2485523community engagementevaluationcovidantimicrobial resistancerural areaslao pdr |
| spellingShingle | Marco J. Haenssgen Elizabeth M. Elliott Sandra Bode Ounkham Souksavanh Thongkhoon Xayyahong Hironori Okabayashi Shogo Kubota Community engagement to support public health: mixed-method evaluation evidence on COVID-19 attitudes and practices in Lao PDR Global Health Action community engagement evaluation covid antimicrobial resistance rural areas lao pdr |
| title | Community engagement to support public health: mixed-method evaluation evidence on COVID-19 attitudes and practices in Lao PDR |
| title_full | Community engagement to support public health: mixed-method evaluation evidence on COVID-19 attitudes and practices in Lao PDR |
| title_fullStr | Community engagement to support public health: mixed-method evaluation evidence on COVID-19 attitudes and practices in Lao PDR |
| title_full_unstemmed | Community engagement to support public health: mixed-method evaluation evidence on COVID-19 attitudes and practices in Lao PDR |
| title_short | Community engagement to support public health: mixed-method evaluation evidence on COVID-19 attitudes and practices in Lao PDR |
| title_sort | community engagement to support public health mixed method evaluation evidence on covid 19 attitudes and practices in lao pdr |
| topic | community engagement evaluation covid antimicrobial resistance rural areas lao pdr |
| url | http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/16549716.2025.2485523 |
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