A call for citizen science in pandemic preparedness and response: Beyond data collection

Authors

Yi Roe Tan, International Digital Health & AI Research Collaborative (I-DAIR)
Anurag Agrawal, Ashoka University
Malebona Precious Matsoso, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg
Rebecca Katz, Georgetown University
Sara L.M. Davis, Geneva Graduate Institute
Andrea Sylvia Winkler, TUM Fakultät für Medizin
Annalena Huber, TUM Fakultät für Medizin
Ashish Joshi, City University of New York
Ayman El-Mohandes, City University of New York
Bruce Mellado, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg
Caroline Antonia Mubaira, Zimbabwe National Network of People Living with HIV (ZNNP+)
Felipe C. Canlas, Wireless Access for Health
Gershim Asiki, African Population & Health Research Center
Harjyot Khosa, International Planned Parenthood Federation
Jeffrey Victor Lazarus, Universitat de Barcelona
Marc Choisy, Nuffield Department of Medicine
Mariana Recamonde-Mendoza, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul
Olivia Keiser, L'Institut de Santé Globale, Genève
Patrick Okwen, Effective Basic Services (eBASE)
Rene English, Stellenbosch University, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences
Serge Stinckwich, United Nations University Institute in Macau
Sylvia Kiwuwa-Muyingo, African Population & Health Research Center
Tariro Kutadza, Zimbabwe National Network of People Living with HIV (ZNNP+)
Tavpritesh Sethi, Indraprastha Institute of Information Technology, Delhi
Thuso Mathaha, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg
Vinh Kim Nguyen, Geneva Graduate Institute
Amandeep Gill, International Digital Health & AI Research Collaborative (I-DAIR)
Peiling Yap, International Digital Health & AI Research Collaborative (I-DAIR)

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has underlined the need to partner with the community in pandemic preparedness and response in order to enable trust-building among stakeholders, which is key in pandemic management. Citizen science, defined here as a practice of public participation and collaboration in all aspects of scientific research to increase knowledge and build trust with governments and researchers, is a crucial approach to promoting community engagement. By harnessing the potential of digitally enabled citizen science, one could translate data into accessible, comprehensible and actionable outputs at the population level. The application of citizen science in health has grown over the years, but most of these approaches remain at the level of participatory data collection. This narrative review examines citizen science approaches in participatory data generation, modelling and visualisation, and calls for truly participatory and co-creation approaches across all domains of pandemic preparedness and response. Further research is needed to identify approaches that optimally generate short-Term and long-Term value for communities participating in population health. Feasible, sustainable and contextualised citizen science approaches that meaningfully engage affected communities for the long-Term will need to be inclusive of all populations and their cultures, comprehensive of all domains, digitally enabled and viewed as a key component to allow trust-building among the stakeholders. The impact of COVID-19 on people's lives has created an opportune time to advance people's agency in science, particularly in pandemic preparedness and response.

Publication Title

BMJ Global Health

Recommended Citation

Tan, Y., Agrawal, A., Matsoso, M., Katz, R., Davis, S., Winkler, A., Huber, A., Joshi, A., El-Mohandes, A., Mellado, B., Mubaira, C., Canlas, F., Asiki, G., Khosa, H., Lazarus, J., Choisy, M., Recamonde-Mendoza, M., Keiser, O., Okwen, P., English, R., Stinckwich, S., Kiwuwa-Muyingo, S., Kutadza, T., Sethi, T., Mathaha, T., Nguyen, V., Gill, A., & Yap, P. (2022). A call for citizen science in pandemic preparedness and response: Beyond data collection. BMJ Global Health, 7 (6) https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjgh-2022-009389