Presenter: Student Name, major(s), Global Public Health Scholars
I worked with graduate assistant Reva Datar to understand how COVID-19 perceptions in rural communities of Tanzania affect how well COVID-19 policies and guidelines are followed. In order to do this, 15 participants in Tanzania were interviewed about COVID-19 testing, vaccinations, and cases in their community; government measures to deal with COVID-19; their trust in healthcare facilities; and how COVID-19 has impacted them economically. My role in this research was to go through the interview transcripts of the participants and “code” the responses into categories such as “awareness of COVID-19 in community”, “COVID-19 attitudes”, “community methods for treating COVID-19”, and “trusted source of health education”. Then I worked with my supervisor and peers to develop four broad themes: individuals' beliefs, state of COVID-19, COVID-19 health actions, and community needs barriers/facilitators. The results from this research can help us understand which health policies, such as social distancing or travel restrictions, can worsen health outcomes for those living in rural, low-income areas and how behavior and culture are essential to understand when making successful health policies. In addition, we can learn how health resource distribution and education can be changed to improve health, especially in rural, low-income communities. Some of my takeaways were that health misinformation can happen very easily when proper healthcare resources are not accessible. Some participants reported relying on the internet or social media for their health information, which may not be entirely credible sources, and they also had distrust in healthcare facilities. Additionally, I learned that cultural beliefs have a large influence over health practices. Even participants that did have trust in healthcare systems still used traditional medicine, such as herbal steam inhalation, to treat health issues. Overall, I realized that there are many factors that can influence health, but personal views and cultural beliefs tend to have the strongest effect over an individual’s health.