Leeney Ruth H, Raveloson Herinjaka, Antion Paul, Mohan Vik
Private, Rogil, Portugal.
Blue Ventures, Antananarivo, Madagascar.
Jamba. 2022 Nov 1;14(1):1285. doi: 10.4102/jamba.v14i1.1285. eCollection 2022.
Blue Ventures (BV) works holistically with communities in Madagascar, developing transformative approaches to catalyse and sustain locally led marine conservation. In response to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, BV's priority was to safeguard the immediate wellbeing and livelihoods of as many communities as possible, recognising that livelihoods are integral to broader well-being. This article describes in detail BV's health response and the perceptions of BV's Madagascar team regarding the successes and challenges of this effort. As a result of the combined efforts of BV teams across Madagascar and in the United Kingdom, the existing healthcare services at BV's sites were maintained, and messages about recognising and dealing with COVID-19 and the importance of vaccination were conveyed to communities that might otherwise not have received comprehensive information. Data were also collected on suspected cases in areas where testing was not available, and outbreaks of suspected COVID-19 cases were managed. Because BV's teams are embedded within the communities where they work, they maintain strong relationships with communities and conveyed important messages around reducing the spread of COVID-19, not only via activities in response to the pandemic but also through activities for other programmes such as fisheries and livelihoods. Blue Ventures' holistic approach ensured that the organisation had a multidimensional understanding of the impacts of the pandemic on communities, facilitating the development of more relevant messaging that considered both safety and the need for continued income-generating activities. Staff felt that an effective public health response was facilitated by strong in-country partnerships and BV's long-standing presence in communities.
The challenges in responding to the pandemic and in implementing and maintaining effective behaviour change are discussed. Although not an objective study of the effectiveness of the response or a comparison with other approaches, the lessons learned from this process are shared in the hope that they may inform responses to future shocks in low-income countries.
蓝色 Ventures（BV）与马达加斯加的社区进行全面合作，开发变革性方法以促进和维持当地主导的海洋保护。针对2019年冠状病毒病（COVID-19）大流行，BV的首要任务是保障尽可能多社区的直接福祉和生计，认识到生计是更广泛福祉不可或缺的一部分。本文详细描述了BV的健康应对措施以及BV马达加斯加团队对这项工作的成功与挑战的看法。由于BV在马达加斯加和英国的团队共同努力，BV各站点现有的医疗服务得以维持，有关识别和应对COVID-19以及疫苗接种重要性的信息被传达给那些可能 otherwise不会收到全面信息的社区。还收集了在无法进行检测的地区的疑似病例数据，并对疑似COVID-19病例的爆发进行了管理。由于BV的团队融入了他们工作所在的社区，他们与社区保持着牢固的关系，并围绕减少COVID-19传播传达重要信息，不仅通过应对疫情的活动，还通过渔业和生计等其他项目的活动。蓝色 Ventures的整体方法确保该组织对大流行对社区的影响有多维理解，促进了更相关信息的制定，该信息既考虑了安全又考虑了持续创收活动的需求。工作人员认为，强大的国内伙伴关系和BV在社区的长期存在有助于有效的公共卫生应对。
讨论了应对大流行以及实施和维持有效行为改变方面的挑战。尽管这不是对应对措施有效性的客观研究，也不是与其他方法的比较，但分享了从这一过程中学到的经验教训，希望它们能为低收入国家应对未来冲击提供参考。
