Understanding How Local Governments Manage Socioeconomic Vulnerable Groups During Covid-19 Pandemic in Tehran's Municipality

Abstract

Despite the potential public health risks of coronavirus disease, vulnerable populations may be at a greater risk than others owing to their occupational, social, economic, and living conditions. The present study aimed to investigate the experiences of senior managers on how local government procedures prevent COVID-19 from spreading within the group in Tehran's municipality. This is descriptive qualitative research. Data were collected through in-depth face-to-face semi-structured interviews, between October to January 2021. Accordingly, twenty-four senior managers with experience in urban planning and disaster were purposively enrolled. A manual qualitative content analytical approach was used to identify and classify codes. According to the results, a total of 15 sub-themes under six main themes were obtained. They included dealing with (1) Getting behind in basic needs, (2) A Thin-Skinned Vaccination Campaign, (3) Health Service Provision, (4) Performance Assessment, (5) Developing Infrastructure and (6) lighting a Candle for Future Pandemics. This study used senior managers' experiences to reveal the necessity of developing a vulnerable protection plan and allocating funds away from the bureaucracy as an efficient management tool for policymakers to prepare inclusive policies before emergencies and act through during disasters.