A scoping study by the Rift Valley Institute on how communities in South Sudan are responding to COVID-19, published in May 2020, identified a variety of local epidemic management systems, including contagion controls, migrant tracking and quarantine systems, care of infectious patients and self-isolation. However, there has been no systematic research that documents these management systems, or past community epidemic management systems. Furthermore, it is not known what methods are currently being adapted, or how they are being discussed, particularly among rural and pastoralist communities. Community Approaches to Epidemic Management, a rapid response research project started in July 2020 and funded by the UK Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) via the East Africa Research and Innovation Hub (EARIH), aims to fill this knowledge gap. It aims to understand how different communities have responded and are responding to past and present infectious diseases and epidemics—including sleeping sickness, measles, cholera, hepatitis B, tuberculosis, HIV and Ebola—in order to design and implement COVID-19 responses that are understood clearly, are taken up and maintained in partnership with local residents, and which take into account local economic and social needs.