Monks and health officials work together to keep communities safe from COVID-19

Buddhist monks and local temples play a central role in towns and villages across Lao PDR. Monks engage with the community on a daily basis, and temples (each led by a Chief Monk) are often the institution people turn to if they feel anxious or troubled. The Ministry of Health, the Lao Front for National Development and the Central Buddhist Fellowship have been talking at national level since early on in the COVID-19 pandemic on issues such as safe and dignified funerals and safe ceremonies for celebrating Lao New Year (Pi Mai) (11-13 April). However, on 23 and 24 July 200 Chief Monks who lead temples in Vientiane Capital met with health officials to discuss community level action to prevent COVID-19 and combat the fear, stigma and discrimination outbreaks can bring.

The 23-24 July engagement event is two back to back Orientation Meetings each one attended by 100 Chief Monks. It is organized by the Ministry of Health’s Centre for Communication and Education for Health, Lao Front for National Development and the Central Buddhist Fellowship with technical support from the World Health Organization and financial support from the United States via USAID.

At the official opening ceremony at the Lao Front Training Centre on 23 July Vice Minister of Health Assoc Prof Dr Phouthong Meungpak was joined by US Ambassador HE Peter M Haymond, the Vice President of the Central Buddhist Fellowship, Phra Ajaan Mahaved Masenay ,the Vice President of the Lao Front for National Development, Assoc Prof Dr Somock Kingsada MD Ph.D., and Acting WHO Representative to Lao PDR, Dr Howard Sobel.

All of the VIP speakers at the opening ceremony endorsed the need for coordination and collaboration between the government and the Buddhist community to respond to the threat posed by COVID-19. Lao PDR has gone more than 100 days without any new COVID-19 cases, but Vice Minister Dr Phouthong pointed out that the pandemic continues to spread worldwide and there are still significant numbers of cases in nearby countries such as Indonesia and the Philippines. The number of people who have died from COVID-19 now exceeds 600,000.

The Lao government is balancing the economic need to start reconnecting with neighbouring countries against the risk of seeing a new COVID-19 outbreak. One key strategy for achieving this is reinforcing community-level monitoring for outbreaks of respiratory illness. The Ministry of Health is training staff in local health centres and village health volunteers on this. But monks are out and about in their communities every day and are also well placed to spot signs of outbreaks. Part of the meeting looked at this and found plenty of scope for cooperation.

Even more fundamentally, though, monks are respected role models and they are listened to in their communities. When monk talk to their community about COVID-19 and how to prevent its spread, this has a big impact. The challenge for the Ministry of Health is empowering monks at community level with the right information and advice at the right time.

In April and May, several of the people who recovered from COVID-19 were not accepted back into their local communities. The Ministry of Health had to help them resettle elsewhere. Monks at local and national level are a powerful voice in combatting this sort of stigma and discrimination. The Central Buddhist Fellowship has for many years been combating stigma against people living with HIV and is committed to addressing stigma linked COVID-19.

Summarising the importance of the Buddhist community to the health sector, Acting WHO Representative Dr Howard Sobel said:

“Chief Monks are ideally placed to mobilize community-level action – not just against COVID-19, but also against new and deadly disease that may emerge in the future.  Their support and collaboration right now is hugely important in Lao PDR. But if and when there is a new COVID-19 outbreak, it will be essential.”