Abstract:
Community engagement is crucial for controlling disease outbreak and mitigating natural and industrial disasters. The COVID-19 pandemic has reconfirmed the need to elevate community engagement
to build equity, trust and sustained action in future health promotion preparedness strategies. Using
the health promotion strategy of strengthening community action enhances the opportunity for better
outcomes. There is, therefore, a need to improve our understanding of community engagement practices during crises, scale-up good community engagement initiatives, and improve and sustain
people-centered approaches to emergency responses. This paper presents five case studies from the
United States, Singapore, Sierra Leone, Kenya and South Africa that demonstrate the potential
strengths that can be nurtured to build resilience in local communities to help mitigate the impact of
disasters and emergencies. The case studies highlight the importance of co-developing relevant education and communication strategies, amplifying the role of community leaders, empowering community members to achieve shared goals, assessing and adapting to changing contexts, pre-planning
and readiness for future emergencies and acknowledgement of historic context.
