Galvin Michael, Kim Andrew W, Bosire Edna, Ndaba Nokubonga, Cele Lindile, Swana Someleze, Kwinda Zwannda, Tsai Alexander, Moolla Aneesa
Health Economics and Epidemiology Research Office, University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa.
Department of Anthropology, University of California-Berkeley, United States.
Soc Health Sci. 2024 Dec 2;22(2). doi: 10.25159/2957-3645/12601.
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, governments in low- and middle-income countries largely followed the strategy of national lockdowns adopted by high-income countries. The South African government imposed some the most restrictive policies in the world. In this article, we examine the perceptions and lived experiences of South Africans in Johannesburg in relation to this initial response to the pandemic. In-depth interviews were conducted with a diverse group of 38 South African adults in Johannesburg, South Africa. The analysis followed an inductive approach. The data revealed that the majority of participants had a positive view of the strong response to the first wave of the pandemic by the South African government, including the restrictive lockdown measures. However, concerns regarding the government's response included worries about the economy and livelihoods of poor people under lockdown, divisions in compliance between townships and wealthier communities, poor funding in the healthcare sector, corruption and nepotism in the distribution of government aid, and the lack of cultural adaptation of awareness-raising campaigns about COVID-19. The ability of governments to gauge how populations perceive the effectiveness of public health measures is essential for identifying obstacles to disease-control objectives.
为应对新冠疫情，低收入和中等收入国家的政府大多效仿高收入国家采取的全国封锁策略。南非政府实施了一些世界上最严格的政策。在本文中，我们考察了约翰内斯堡的南非人对疫情初期应对措施的看法和实际经历。我们对南非约翰内斯堡的38名不同背景的成年南非人进行了深入访谈。分析采用归纳法。数据显示，大多数参与者对南非政府对第一波疫情的有力应对措施持积极看法，包括严格的封锁措施。然而，对政府应对措施的担忧包括对封锁下贫困人口的经济和生计的担忧、城镇与富裕社区在遵守规定方面的差异、医疗部门资金不足、政府援助分配中的腐败和裙带关系，以及关于新冠疫情的提高认识运动缺乏文化适应性。政府衡量民众如何看待公共卫生措施有效性的能力对于识别疾病控制目标的障碍至关重要。
