Handling myths and Misconceptions in health research

Its 2004 in the afternoon at certain primary school in Thyolo district. An organization drives up to the school to donate bilharzia drugs. The moment children spot the vehicle they all turn into frenzy, running away from the classrooms to their homes. Reason? These people have come to suck their blood, some would inform their parents to go and rescue the "less fortunate" who did not manage to escape because a class was in session or something held them up.

It may sound fictional and pretty much exaggerated but if you were there in the early 2000s, blood sucking allegedly by people sent by organizations but authorized by government rumors was widely spread. Yes, it even got the attention of wire services and world media giants including the New York Times.

"Rumors that the government of that landlocked southern African country was colluding with vampires to collect human blood in exchange for food sent terrified villagers fleeing, wire services reported last week. A suspected vampire helper was stoned or beaten to death; three priests were attacked; and a foreign aid encampment identified as vampire headquarters was destroyed," was the lead New York Times carried then in 2002. 
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/12/29/weekinreview/a-fear-of-vampires-can-mask-a-fear-of-something-much-worse.htm

Of course, people realized later that there was nothing like blood sucking scheme going on, these were innocent people carrying out demographic health surveys, clinical trials, non - governmental organizations carrying out routine projects and so on and so forth.

This however points to the challenges faced by researchers in Malawi, some of the reasons being myths that have been deep rooted in communities but upon realizing that communities’ participation in health research is crucial, one has to effectively engage them so that the gap that exist is narrowed.

"Participants' refusal to take part in research is an unpleasant experience that investigators face," reads study published in Medical Journal of Malawi who conducted a study into the reasons why people refuse to participate in biomedical research resources from low income society's perspective.

 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3345674/.Among the findings were superstition and failure by researchers to conduct proper community engagement. One participant was quoted as saying “they should first inform the leaders of the community like the chief and when they accept, the people would also accept the research. But if they just come from wherever they come from and start the research without involving our community leaders, people will not accept it......."The study further learnt that people were afraid that more blood will be drawn from their bodies which the researchers would later on use for their benefit.

Engaging the communities intensely it's paramount if the study it's to register more participants and also if there will be issues of sample drawing   such as blood, urine, stool and others. There are so many things that people in the rural areas many not understand when such samples are requested especially from the under-fives

One way to avoid the above challenges it's to use a participatory approach, put it another way, the researchers or whoever is engaging the community should not only dictate things but give them chance to speak out, ask them questions to ensure you are on equal footing and also requesting them to suggest ways on how best they can understand the study. For example people in communities spend a lot of time gardening, or doing some scale business, therefore asking them time that they will be comfortable to schedule a meeting which can help build a good rapport. Moreover, forming committees to act as their representatives would also assist in helping communities further understand and participate in studies for a good cause. On the other hand collaborating with their community leaders people will cast out their doubts because they are the main gate keepers of the communities. It is therefore very important that researchers follow a collect path when conducting studies in communities; this will help to avoid misconceptions that are so common in Malawi.