The coronavirus pandemic is a subject of great concern for the world in general and for public health specialists in particular.

In Pakistan, coronavirus infections are increasing by the day. The latest figure is around 25,000.

The corona pandemic does not respect any social bounds, cultural values or territorial regulations.

It is important to note that community participation is a key strategy to deal with this pandemic.

Back in 1978, the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) had held a conference in Alma-Ata that declared primary health care (PHC) as the most important means to achieve radical health improvements.

This in turn led to the development of various simple public health tools like inter-sectoral co-ordination, health education, use of appropriate technologies etc. Community participation (CP) is one of these public health strategies which may be correctly labelled as the ‘heart of primary health care’.

Although, it is not possible or even useful to have a universally acceptable definition of community participation, simply speaking, this is a set of activities undertaken by groups of people following the advice of medical professionals in order to reduce individual illnesses and improve the general environment.

In the prevailing global scenario of a Covid-19 pandemic, the definition of community participation may be refined as the mobilization of community people to take an active part in the delivery of necessary and optimum health services.

The latter definition of community participation is because of the fact that it is not possible to build broad-based, self-sustained health related activities through health services alone without involving the common people.

Moreover, the communities, as mentioned above, are not homogeneous. They consist of various socio-demographic strata of a country.

In defining which groups are crucial to attaining the predefined health goals, it is the governments, their planners and agencies who take the lead.

There is an exhaustive list of common people, religious leaders, elders of villages, local authorities, non-governmental organisations working in the areas, civil society and local suppliers of required materials.

According to the WHO, a primarily infected person is expected to spread this virus to another 2-3 persons in his surroundings. After 10 subsequent generations of transmissions, each taking five to six days, one initial case would have transmitted the virus to 3,500 people.

Community participation requires motivating people to work together by recognizing the benefits arising therefrom in the background of social, religious as well as traditional obligations for mutual help.

This may be achieved through a wide horizon of activities like health need assessment, planning, resource mobilization, peer capacity building, facilitation, training, implementation, monitoring, evaluation etc. The question arises as to how a community can participate in combating the Covid-19 pandemic.

We should not forget that facing the pandemic is not just related to how it spreads, but also on how a community responds to it.

Shared decision making, self-mobilization and a sense of ownership is needed for combating Covid-19.

It is high time we started thinking collectively about how we can participate for this noble cause.

This is an important area when it comes to the control of community transmission of coronavirus.

It is well-established that Covid-19 has taken root in our country. Gone are the days when only people coming from abroad were suspects for carrying the virus.

A majority of the current cases are the result of community transmission of the deadly virus.

According to World Health Organization, a primarily infected person is expected to spread this virus to another average of 2-3 persons in his surroundings. After ten subsequent generations of transmissions, each taking five to six days, one initial case would have transmitted the virus to another cohort of 3,500 people.

To cut this human-to-human transmission short, we don’t require a vaccine. All we need is social/physical distancing.

We have to accept to trade a little of our freedom for the greater good of public health.

The community has to show resilience and people should stay home as far as possible as it is our civic duty. This is especially necessary where the health system is fragile and cannot cope with a large number of cases.

Every country is following this cost-effective method after trial and error.

Other elements of community participation include an awareness of clinical presentations of Covid-19, remaining well informed, maintaining hand hygiene and seeking healthcare for oneself or a neighbor only when it is necessary.

In order to confront this novel virus, we need to work together in an empathetic fashion. We should avoid false notions regarding prevention and treatment strategies against this deadly disease.

Solidarity among community members is the need of these testing times.

Don’t think that getting through this pandemic is just about you, it is also about your family, your nation and the world.

The more positive you are in your behaviour, the more effective will be the community’s response to this deadly disease.

The writer is the dean of Faculty of Community Medicine and Public Health Sciences at LUMHS Jamshoro