…as COVID-19 is creating a new norm, it behoves development communication professionals and experts to help government, first responders, researchers and scientists, to think and plan ahead on how to promote changes in social norms and the desired health behaviour of the future. A creative health communication approach would be critical for the post-COVID life.
People just don’t know what to believe, or are just believing everything. With new stories, podcasts, articles, experts’ opinions on daily basis, people are even doubting what they knew before. The superabundance of information also creates a public health concern, which according to the World Health Organisation, needs to be managed. To say the least, the COVID-19 information avalanche has polluted the information ecosystem, causing doubts about the reality of the pandemic.
The main weapon to address unawareness is the dissemination of simple, up-to-date and accurate information. For this group, we need to scale up precise information and messages on the disease. Such information should address their questions, concerns, queries and doubts about the pandemic. Furthermore, media professionals have been fielding an army of uninformed pundits who parade half-baked opinions and theories on the pandemic. In Nigeria, reports from the laboratories is limited to the daily release of a number of cases from her Centre for Disease Control . Voices of scientists and researchers are muted, while there is hardly a media report detailing the science of the virus; a step in improving the public understanding of the virus.
From key informants’ interviews and interaction with various individuals, the pandemic typifies low risk perception among segments of the population. This is a feeling that the disease is for others and not for them. Some people see it as a strange disease, for the rich, for those who have travelled abroad, or for those living in a particular community or country. Such people do not personalise the risk of the disease, as reflected in the apathetic response to the containment strategies.
First, some of the preventive strategies, such as social distancing and lockdown are out of sync with African traditional and economic realities. This makes their implementation naturally difficult. Second, illness and sick role behaviour is prone to stigma.
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