TY - JOUR T1 - ‘I exist because of we’: shielding as a communal ethic of maintaining social bonds during the COVID-19 response in Ethiopia JF - BMJ Global Health JO - BMJ Global Health DO - 10.1136/bmjgh-2020-003204 VL - 5 IS - 7 SP - e003204 AU - Abiy Seifu Estifanos AU - Getnet Alemu AU - Solomon Negussie AU - Debebe Ero AU - Yewondwossen Mengistu AU - Adamu Addissie AU - Yirgu Gebrehiwot AU - Helen Yifter AU - Addisu Melkie AU - Damen Hailemariam Gebrekiros AU - Messay Gebremariam Kotecho AU - Sophie Soklaridis AU - Carrie Cartmill AU - Cynthia Ruth Whitehead AU - Dawit Wondimagegn Y1 - 2020/07/01 UR - http://gh.bmj.com/content/5/7/e003204.abstract N2 - Summary boxEthiopia’s social, cultural and economic conditions place significant limitations to the use of lockdown as a public health strategy for containing the spread of COVID-19.Shielding focuses efforts to prevent vulnerable people from COVID-19 infection.Shielding empowers communities to stand by each other and harness the power of communal valuesShielding protects against socio-economic and political crises that may result from complete lockdown.‘When spider webs unite’, says an Ethiopian proverb, ‘they can tie up a lion’. It reflects a relational way of thinking about the world that underlies Ethiopia’s public health response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Togetherness is a fundamental value that binds this country of more than 110 million people and is embedded in deep-rooted systems that support communal life. By standing together, we become bigger than ourselves. As health policy stakeholders in Ethiopia, we believe that the only way to contain COVID-19 is to implement strategies embedded in togetherness.1This notion of connectedness is embodied in the concept of ubuntu, which has been a guiding principle in sub-Saharan Africa for hundreds of years.2 Many great African leaders, including Desmond Tutu and Nelson Mandela, incorporated elements of ubuntu into their work.2 Ubuntu situates individuals within a web of relationships that is born of identifying with others and acting in solidarity. It is by sharing a way of life with others that individuals ‘come into existence’.3 We exist because our social connections remain strong, extending beyond family to embrace … ER -