Trust is vital in managing future pandemics, says Australian study

A Burnet study published today in the Medical Journal of Australia, titled “Preparing Australia for future pandemics: strengthening trust, social capital and resilience,” discusses the need for the Australian Government to rebuild trust and prioritize assistance for priority communities ahead of future pandemics.

One of the study’s lead authors, Dr. Shanti Narayanasamy, said the government might not be able to rely on people adhering to stringent public health restrictions, such as those imposed during the COVID-19 pandemic, in the future.

“Planning for future pandemics should be focused on rebuilding trust, social cohesion and the social contract between the government and the people it serves,” she said.

In October, the federal government handed down the findings of its COVID-19 Response Inquiry, an independent report into Australia’s response to the pandemic.

The Inquiry emphasized the importance of rebuilding trust and resilience with priority communities who were most impacted by the pandemic and related public health measures.

The Inquiry found public health restrictions affected priority populations disproportionately, particularly Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD) communities, people with disabilities, people experiencing homelessness, children, and individuals in residential aged care.

Professor Margaret Hellard AM, another of the study’s lead authors, said there needed to be better support to counterbalance the inequities faced by priority communities.

“When COVID-19 began, we knew a critical aspect of the government’s response would be supporting individuals and communities that were going to be hardest hit,” she said.

“Scenarios like what to do when a single mother with two children with limited family support, who lives in a public housing commission tower finds out she has COVID-19? She is meant to go straight home. But does she go straight home, or does she pick up her children from childcare? And how does she then go about receiving groceries and other essential items? How does she continue to support herself if she can’t go to work?

“Our response to these situations during the pandemic was often inadequate.”

“We need to ensure structures are in place to lessen the impacts of future pandemics on culturally and linguistically diverse communities and other priority groups who are most at risk of infection and also are most likely to be adversely impacted by the consequences of public health restrictions put in place to prevent the spread of infection.”

The study also emphasized the need to integrate social sciences into the future Australian Center for Disease Control (CDC), which the federal government has committed to establishing.

“We believe social scientists should be embedded in the future Australian CDC to examine and quantify factors such as trust and resilience,” Dr. Narayanasamy said.

“The integration of social sciences with natural sciences and epidemiology is essential to mitigating the negative impacts of future pandemics and related measures on people, particularly priority populations.”