Community-Centred Public Health Responses: How Can We Do it Better, Together?

This study focuses on the lessons and challenges related to achieving an inclusive, equitable and effective risk communication and community engagement response to a pandemic, such as COVID-19. Challenges and lessons are examined in the context of an innovative model of partnership, collaboration, and coordination, which was piloted by the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF), the World Health Organization (WHO), and the Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network (GOARN). Coordination is an ongoing challenge in pandemic response given the diverse and dispersed number of groups involved. The article describes specific tools and procedures that were used to create a coordinated response, and lessons learned about coordination during the pandemic and beyond. The key lessons are as follows: coordinated support for community-led responses requires a systemic approach and long-term investments; regional platforms are most effective when demand-driven and accountable to national response teams; strengthening “data for action” capacity relies on collective efforts across sectors for better decision-making; and affected people do not separate crises – responses should be holistic and adaptable. This analysis suggests that these strategies can promote a more coordinated and effective response to health crises.