Community engagement and involvement in managing the COVID-19 pandemic among urban poor in low-and middle-income countries: a systematic scoping review and stakeholders mapping.

BACKGROUND: Community engagement and involvement (CEI) was crucial for the COVID-19 pandemic response, particularly among the urban poor in low-and middle-income countries (LMICs). However, no evidence synthesis explores how CEI can benefit public health emergencies. OBJECTIVE: We conducted a systematic scoping review of the CEI with an emphasis on stakeholder identification, accountability mapping, the support system, and the engagement process among urban poor populations in LMICs during the COVID-19 pandemic. METHODS: We searched eleven databases, including PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, and CINAHL, following the PRISMA-2020 guidelines to find articles published between November 2019 and August 2021. PROSPERO registration No: CRD42021283599. We performed the quality assessment using a mixed-method appraisal tool. We synthesized the findings using thematic framework analysis. RESULTS: We identified 6490 records. After the title and abstract screening, 133 studies were selected for full-text review, and finally, we included 30 articles. Many stakeholders were involved in COVID-19 support, particularly for health care, livelihoods, and WASH infrastructure, and their accountability mapping by adopting an interest - influence matrix. This review emphasizes the significance of meaningful CEI in designing and implementing public health efforts for pandemic management among urban slum populations. The interest - influence matrix findings revealed that specific community volunteers, community-based organizations, and civil society organizations had high interest but less influence, indicating that it is necessary to recognize and engage them. CONCLUSION: Motivation is crucial for those with high influence but less interest, such as corporate responsibility/conscience and private food supply agencies, for the health system's preparedness plan among urban populations.

Assessment of the Teaching on Alcohol Use and Management in Current Health Professional Curricula in India

Alcohol consumption is globally a serious public health challenge, and it is rampant across all parts of India. The COVID-19 pandemic has added to the overall burden of alcoholism due to long working hours, increased mental stress, depression, and so on. Primary care physicians have an important role in assessing risk and providing counselling, intervention and treatment of alcohol misuse. Studies have demonstrated primary health care facilities to be ideally suited for alcohol prevention and cessation interventions as most patients with alcohol use disorders (AUDs) seek treatment from facilities in the primary care setting in India. Thus, the training of healthcare professionals is vital in addressing AUDs in India. The Indian government is setting up Health and Wellness Centres across the country intended to address long-term care and holistic health promotion. At the same time, healthcare providers have expressed their limited competence in cessation and counselling practices related to AUDs. One of the attributing factors for these limitations is the paucity of exposure during the formative years. With this background, a review was undertaken of the current prescribed undergraduate professional curricula (medical, nursing, dentistry and physiotherapy) in India to assess its current status and preparedness in addressing alcohol misuse. The study findings emphasise the need to bolster the continuing education of health professionals aimed at health promotion and preventive strategies by hands-on training, brief workshops, supervised clinical experience by extramural faculty such as addiction psychiatrists, use of standardised patients, role play, and other similar methods.