Health inspectors have learned to localize their understanding of the virus to ensure the communities they visit to understand the impact of the pandemic.

The inclusion of community leaders and localizing knowledge about COVID-19 for public consumption is critical in curbing the spread of the virus.

Health inspectors have learned to localize their understanding of the virus to ensure the communities they visit to understand the impact of the pandemic.

Fiji Institute of Environmental Health’s Vice President, Josefa Tabua says engaging with influential leaders is key in getting community members together.

“We are building up this body of knowledge of local knowledge on COVID itself. We try and adopt it best on whatever is happening on a global scale and we try and ground it down so that those at the grassroots level can understand how we deal with the disease itself.”

Fiji’s Chief Health Inspector, Vimal Deo says their roles have diversified during this pandemic.

Deo says Health inspectors have been instrumental in the Ministry’s COVID response efforts since the first wave of the pandemic in March 2020.