Abstract
The success of public health interventions is highly dependent on the compliance of the general population. State authorities often implement policies without consulting representatives of faith-based communities, thereby overlooking potential implications of public health measures for these parts of society. Although ubiquitous, these challenges are more readily observable in highly religious states. Romania serves as an illustrative example for this, as recent data identify it as the most religious country in Europe. In this paper, we discuss the contributions of the Romanian Orthodox Church (ROC), the major religious institution in the country, to the national COVID-19 mitigation efforts. We present not only the positive outcomes of productive consultations between public health authorities and religious institutions but also the detrimental impact of unidirectional communication. Our work highlights that an efficient dialogue with faith-based communities can greatly enhance the results of public health interventions. As the outlined principles apply to a variety of contexts, the lessons learned from this case study can be generalized into a set of policy recommendations for the betterment of future public health initiatives worldwide.
Highlights
The COVID-19 pandemic created an unprecedented public health emergency
This situation is substantially different to countries where a systematic approach to the ease of restrictions was provided to religious institutions, which was based on the national, regional, and local evolution of COVID-19 cases [19]
The lessons learned from the involvement of the Romanian Orthodox Church (ROC) throughout the COVID-19 pandemic demonstrate the importance of efficient bidirectional communication with faith-based institutions for the betterment of public health
Summary
The COVID-19 pandemic created an unprecedented public health emergency. Across the world, the responses of governments varied in terms of effectiveness and timeliness. The lack of consultations regarding the implementation of COVID-19 public health policies was highlighted by all the religious representatives present Such public dialogues would have likely improved the trust of faith-based communities in state authorities, thereby increasing COVID-19 vaccine acceptance of both clergy and believers. The failure of state authorities to provide a plan for how and when the restrictions would be relaxed sometimes contributed to the reluctance of faith-based communities to endorse and abide by the measures [55] This situation is substantially different to countries where a systematic approach to the ease of restrictions was provided to religious institutions, which was based on the national, regional, and local evolution of COVID-19 cases [19]. Continuous dialogue between state officials and the ROC would have most likely allowed for these issues to be addressed much more efficiently
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