Often times when planning for community engagement we prioritize engaging rural communities which are believed to be miles away from science and that their understanding is far from that of researchers. It is believed or observed that most members are illiterate and not exposed to issues within science. Urban communities are believed to be literate and knowledgeable. Being a community engagement practitioner i have always been having the same perception over the years until recently when i was challenged upon hearing a certain conversation at a funeral ceremony; i joined a group of people who were having a conversation while attending the same funeral. Of course the discussion started from a different angle until it got to one of the entomological studies conducted by one of research institutions i know very and at times collaborate with them. One of the people chatting narratively stated that the organization recruits its staff and one of the key responsibilities they are told is to feed their blood to mosquitoes tamed for their projects at Machinga District Hospital, located in Liwonde township, approximately 110 kilometers from Blantyre. He highlighted that each study staff has his/her turn to go in the cages to insert his hands so that mosquitoes can feed on the blood. The statement was shocked many people who were listening.......... In mind came a question; where did they get this kind of information? Did the study team engage people around this area? Several questions ran in my mind but they centered on the status of these people who enjoyed sharing this story which would not have any accuracy in it but then its just a heresy. It might have originated from the fact that the study team did not engage communities around their recruitment area, thus including people working at the hospital; clinicians, nurses and others. These are the ones taking the stories of no evidence very far.
Basing on experience, it is true that most research institutions plan to engage rural communities as opposed to urban communities, this is because of the wrong perception that most residents are more educated such that their understanding is more advanced than those in rural communities, eventually this create misconceptions. critically analyzing a story above, you are a reader would think can happen that educated people as per se would be thinking from such a perspective however it is the reality. Misconceptions about science might be everywhere regardless of the level of education, geographical location or any community targeted, it is therefore significant to plan to engage each and every community, whether rural or urban, in cities or in villages, educated communities or not educated and also think of different professionals such as nurses, lawyers, teachers, students, vendors, farmers, taxi drivers and others.
There is need to come up with novel ways of engaging relevant communities especially ways that promote dialogue between researchers/ institutions and communities. There should be platforms where information is made available for public interest. Usually science is always difficult to follow hence the need the need to have community engagement where science is broken into a simple language. Recent activities there was a community engagement meeting for one of the studies in some villages in Chikwawa and i was demonstrating to the members the amount of a blood sample which will be collected from participants. Before my explanation i asked about their knowledge; i asked them to tell me what they know about EDTA tube and its use most of them responded that they just see it at the hospital when doctors are collecting blood samples from their arm but they never have a clear understanding. This entails that the public see and know about most procedures which are usually done in the hospital but what they do not know is what and why the procedures are done, all this happens because of luck of information. such misunderstandings can be in any setting including in urban areas, therefore there is need to take initiatives to deliberately plan community engagement activities that will include all communities.
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