Embedding Community and Public Voices in the Health Research Cycle – Experiences With Rickettsial Diseases

Community and public engagement (also called Patient and Public Involvement) has been increasingly promoted in health research to make it more ethical, relevant, and responsive to community needs. Various initiatives have been implemented, including the use of community advisory boards and other innovative methods. However, many of these efforts have not been widely reported or discussed outside specific engagement conferences. The objective of this symposium is to highlight examples of how engagement is conducted in rickettsial and other tropical disease research. This will be the first symposium on engagement at the APRC, and the talks will reflect the diverse methods, audiences, and objectives of engagement initiatives conducted in different countries across the Asia-Pacific region. Attendees will gain insights into different engagement approaches and their benefits for various research studies.