https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6707-8510
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ABSTRACT
This article explores the perceptions of COVID-19 among faith communities in north-eastern DR Congo and their intersection with public health responses to disease outbreaks. In a situation of a political and economic insecurity and significant unaddressed health needs, faith communities have a strong trusted public presence and offer resilience in the face of political insecurity, limited state intervention and outbreaks of disease. Semi-structured interviews of members, leaders and medical professionals from seven faith communities in Ituri and North-Kivu were analysed using a thematic framework. The article demonstrates that faith communities and their leaders have a range of opinions on the causes of and responses to COVID-19 that illuminate long term trends in a complex faith-health landscape. It identifies that all faith communities have spiritual responses to disease. Some of those responses cohere with public health messages. Others run counter to them. It argues that understanding the nature, range and variability of these perceptions and their impact on public behaviour is valuable to enable those engaged in public health to work with trusted, resilient communities even where their perceptions of disease are contradictory.
Acknowledgements
We are grateful to those who were interviewed for this project.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
1 Ansoms et al., “Rural Resilience in the global South”; Ager et al “Local Faith Communities and the Promotion of Resilience.”
2 Baker et al., “Religion in the Age of Social Distancing.”
3 See as examples, Perry et al, “Culture Wars and COVID-19”; and Chow & Kurlburg, “Two or Three Gathered”.
4 Ammerman, “Rethinking Religion”, 14, 37.
5 Goodwin and Kraft, “Mental health and spiritual well-being in humanitarian crises,”6.
6 Igwe, “Religions Responses to the Covid-19 Pandemic in Nigeria,” 106.
7 Prince, “Situating Health and Public in Africa,” 9.
8 Seay, “Effective responses”; Lindstrom, “Donors and a Predatory State,” 78.
9 Janzen, Health in a Fragile State, 232.
10 Lee, Health, Healing and Illness in African Society.
11 WHO, Traditional Medicine Strategy, 11.
12 Falisse et al. “Indigenous Medicine and Biomedical Health”; Way “La Spiritualité de l’Eglise”; Wild-Wood, Migration and Christian Identity.
13 Wild-Wood, “Faith, Health and Well-being in Ituri”.
14 Baba, “Remote Research Data in DRC.”
15 Schmidt, “Narratives of Spirituality”, 140.
16 Way, “Regard sur les statistiques.” There is little current consensus on religious affiliation. The Pew Research Centre’s World Christian Database calculates 1.5% of Muslims (2019).
17 Way, “List des églises identifiés.”
18 Williams, “Multiple religious belonging,” 226.
19 The six groups are the ADF/NALU, the Mai-Mai, the Force de Résistance Patriotique en Ituri (FRPI), the Coopérative de Développement du Congo (CODECO), the Front Patriotique et Intégrationniste du Congo (FPIC) (aka, Chini Ya Kilima), and the Front Populaire d”Autodéfense en Ituri (FPAC/Zaïre). Liberation, “En République Démocratique du Congo, le contrôle des métaux en mauvaise mine,” 19 July 2019.
20 Bunia Actualité, 15 January 2021, from a report by The Bureau Conjoint des Nations Unies aux Droits de l’Homme (BCNUDH), https://buniaactualité.com (Accessed 15 January 2021).
21 Baloch Barbar, “Près de 6000 personnes ont fui des attaques brutales contre des sites de déplacés dans l'est de la RDC,” 4 June 2021, Summary of UNHCR press conference. https://www.unhcr.org/fr/actualites/briefing-notes/pres-de-6000-personnes-ont-fui-des-attaques-brutales-contre-des-sites-de (Accessed 21 June 2021).
22 UNHCR, “Les flambées de violence déplacent des milliers de personnes dans l’est de la RDC,” 8 May 2020. https://www.unhcr.org/fr/news/briefing/2020/5/5eb53032a/flambees-violence-deplacent-milliers-personnes-lest-rdc.html (Accessed 5 February 2021).
23 Baba, “Supporting midwives to improve maternal health.”
24 De Herdt and Titeca, “Negotiating Public Services,” 6.
25 Ager et al., “Local Faith Communities and the Promotion of Resilience.”
26 Kangamina et al., “Conflict, Epidemic and Faith Communities.”
27 See for instance, Nyenyzi Bisoka et al., “From Biolegitimacy to Antihumanitarianism.”
28 Bashizi et al., “Real governance of the COVID-19.”
29 Kuma, “Pauvreté et chômage.”
30 Congo Research Group, “Ebola and the DRC,” 6.
31 Nyenyzi Bisoka et al., “From Biolegitimacy to Antihumanitarianism.”
32 Reuters, “COVID-19 kills 32 members of Congo’s Parliament” 28 May 2021, https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/covid-19-kills-32-members-congos-parliament-2021-05-28/ (Accessed 26 May 2023).
33 Falisse et al., “African leaders died of COVID-19.”
34 Interview from group A.
35 Witter et al., “State-building and human resources for health.”
36 Wild-Wood, “Faith, Health and Well-Being in Ituri,”
37 Prince, “Situating Health and Public in Africa,” 10.
38 Interview from group A.
39 Interview from group A.
40 Interview from group A.
41 Interview from group B.
42 RTK or “Radio which announces Christ” is run by CECA 20. Other church leaders participate.
43 Agence Congolais de Presse (ACP), “La CENCO exhorte les Congolais au respect des mesures barrière de lute contre COVID-19,” 11 January 2021. https://acp.cd/nation/la-cenco-exhorte-les-congolais-au-respect-des-mesures-barriere-de-lutte-contre-la-covid-19 (Accesssed 11 November 2021).
44 Interview from group C.
45 Interview from group B
46 Interview from group B
47 Interview from group A.
48 Interview from group A.
49 Wild-Wood et al., “The Public Role of Churches,” 68-69.
50 Boyo et al., “African Christianity and the Intersection.”
51 Togarasei et al., “Christian Medical Mission.”
52 Matthew et al. “Health and Integrative Wellness.”
53 Interview from group A.
54 Vinck et al., “Institutional trust and misinformation,” 529; Congo Research Group, “Ebola and the DRC,” 4.
55 Interview from group A.
56 Radio Okapi, “Sud-Ubangi : une personne décédée à Gemena après une prise de “Kongo Bololo” contre le Coronavirus,” 5 April 2020. https://www.radiookapi.net/2020/04/05/actualite/sante/sud-ubangi-une-personne-decedee-gemena-apres-une-prise-de-kongo-bololo
57 Interview from group A.
58 Interview from group C.
59 Hsu, “Medical pluralism.”
60 Radio France International, “RDC: l’entourage de Félix Tshisekedi clarifie son refus de se faire vacciner contre le Covid-19,” 4 July 2021. https://www.rfi.fr/fr/afrique/20210704-rdc-l-entourage-de-félix-tshisekedi-clarifie-son-refus-de-se-faire-vacciner-contre-le-covid-19
61 Baker et al., “Religion in the Age of Social Distancing.”
62 Igwe, “Religions Responses to the Covid-19 Pandemic in Nigeria,” 109; Goodwin and Kraft, “Mental health and spiritual well-being in humanitarian crises,” 6.