Launch of the Community Rapid Assessment (CRA): Social and behavioral findings during COVID-19

At the start of the pandemic, UNICEF Regions of South Asia, and Eastern and Southern Africa carried out real-time community-based mobile phone surveys across 12 countries in order  to track social and behavioural trends during the pandemic.  Some of the standard variables include vaccine hesitancy, adoption of protective practices such as handwashing, mask-wearing, and physical distancing, as well as health-seeking behaviours, coping strategies, and emerging needs in light of the pandemic.  The objective was to provide timely, high-quality community-sourced data to inform COVID-19 program and policy decisions at the country level.   Findings thus far have provided a rich and must-needed picture of the behavioural component of the outbreak at the individual and community levels.