Residents of Khayelitsha chased Epicentre Health Research field workers away, saying they didn’t know what the research was about.
Cape Town - The Department of Health said a Covid-19 antibody survey that led to field workers being chased away by community members was legitimate.
Residents of Kwezi Park, Khayelitsha, chased Epicentre Health Research’s field researchers away when they visited the area. They draw blood in random households for the national survey.
National Department of Health spokesperson, Popo Maja, said the researchers were working with the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) and National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) on a seroprevalence survey. This involves conducting antibody tests to establish whether people had already had Covid-19.
“Prof Puren is the one of the principal investigators. So, it is legit. There was no proper communication with provincial authorities. Which is very much unfortunate. We will correct this,’’ he said.
MEC for Health Nomafrench Mbombo said she was contacted by the residents who asked if she knew about the survey after researchers visited their community and she told them she knew nothing about it.
“I told them Western Cape Health is not undergoing any blood test, hence I asked them to ask the researchers to sign the consent forms.”
She said it was the responsibility of every researcher conducting a study to explain it.
Mbombo added: “If it was done at health facilities it would be different, but for researchers going door-to-door, they are not part of us, it is something else.”
Community leader Nonzame Sili said they were never told about anyone coming to do research in their area.
“People were shocked when they saw these people going door-to-door, saying they have been sent by the Department of Health to do research.” She said the researchers could not explain clearly what the research was about, which caused a lot of confusion. Sili said at first they did not know if they came because their area had people who were infected with Covid-19.
“They said to the houses they went to, they are testing for Covid-19, but they were drawing people’s blood and some of us know how the virus is tested.
“We wanted to know who sent them and they said it was the national government and that they spoke to our ward councillor. Our councillor never told us anything about this and when we asked Nomafrench Mbombo she also didn't know about it.”
She said they called a meeting with the researchers last week, but still, they could not explain clearly what the survey was about, so the community decided to chase them out of their area.
Epicentre Health Research regional manager, Johan van den Berg, said they made contact with the community. “We start our communication from the top down. We schedule meetings with the community but they (the meetings) do not go anywhere.”
He said the company would wait on the community to give them a go-ahead to continue its work. Van den Berg said they would also conduct the research in other parts of the province.
A Mitchell’s Plain resident, Sheila Williams, who had her blood drawn, said she also knew nothing about the survey and when she asked how they came to her house, she was told they chose her randomly.
“After they explained who they are and what they do, I agreed to because I’m also curious to see what comes back with the results,” said Williams. “I encourage people to participate in the research because it will benefit them in the end.”
Weekend Argus