A Comprehensive Systematic Review Protocol of Vaccine Hesitancy in Low- and Middle-Income Countries

Abstract Background: Vaccine hesitancy has presented to public health, especially the fight against vaccine-preventable diseases, a great challenge in promoting global health. In this coronavirus era, it has become important to examine the concept of vaccine resistance, and effect adequate measures to clamp down on vaccine hesitancy. In an attempt to address vaccine hesitancy, some studies have determined the causes of vaccine hesitancy, reported on the reasons why individuals in resource-constraint countries delay and ultimately reject vaccination interventions, and provided evidence on measures that have been successful at reducing vaccine hesitancy. This comprehensive review protocol, which has been developed as a teaching tool, aims to present a stepwise approach to examining these studies.Methods: The protocol will guide the conduct of the systematic review in an orderly manner and by the allocated number of reviewers: the search strategy development and testing (2); the database search (6); the titles and abstract screening (3); full-text screening (3); the data extraction (7); and the quality assessment of included studies (2). The search strategy has been tested with results in 3 databases from inception to June 30, 2021: MEDLINE via EBSCOhost (n=1364), CINAHL via EBSCOhost (n=91), and Web of Science (n=3472). The included research papers will be reviewed according to the convergent segregated approach as explained in the Joanna Briggs Institute’s (JBI) manual. Conclusion: The review protocol, when successfully applied to conduct the systematic review, will provide some guidance to policy-makers as we tackle coronavirus through vaccination intervention. Systematic review registration DOI: https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/BVP4S

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Community-Level Experiences, Understandings, and Responses to COVID-19 in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: A Systematic Review of Qualitative and Ethnographic Studies

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health ◽

10.3390/ijerph182212063 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 18 (22) ◽

pp. 12063

Author(s):

Christopher B. Raymond ◽

Paul R. Ward

Keyword(s):

Public Health ◽

Systematic Review ◽

Data Extraction ◽

Field Research ◽

Local Context ◽

Middle Income ◽

Middle Income Countries ◽

Methodological Rigor ◽

Effective Public Health ◽

Low And Middle Income

(1) Background: COVID-19 disruptions offer researchers insight into how pandemics are at once biological and social threats, as communities struggle to construct meaning from novel challenges to their ontological status quo. Multiple epistemes, in which public health imperatives confront and negotiate locally derived knowledge and traditions, vie for legitimacy and agency, resulting in new cultural forms. (2) Methods: To investigate the context and construction of community responses, a systematic review of qualitative literature was conducted with the aim of evaluating those insights provided by empirical, social field research in low- and middle-income countries since the onset of COVID-19. Six scholarly databases were searched for empirical, qualitative, field-based, or participatory research that was published in peer-reviewed journals between December 2019 and August 2021. (3) Results: Twenty-five studies were selected for data extraction, following critical appraisal for methodological rigor by two independent reviewers, and were then analyzed thematically. Faced with unprecedented social ruptures, restrictions in social and physical mobility, and ever-looming uncertainties of infection, financial insecurity, stigma, and loss, communities worldwide reacted in multiple and complex ways. Pervasive misinformation and fear of social rejection resulted in noncompliance with pandemic sanctions, resistance, and increased isolation, allowing the spread of the disease. The meaning of, and understandings about, COVID-19 were constructed using traditional, religious, and biomedical epistemologies, which were occasionally in conflict with each other. Innovations and adaptations, through syntheses of traditional and biomedical discourses and practice, illustrated community resilience and provided models for successful engagement to improve public health outcomes. (4) Conclusion: Local context and community engagement were indispensable considerations when enacting effective public health interventions to meet the challenges of the pandemic.

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