Healthcare stakeholders lend KZN health department a hand in curbing fake news on Covid-19

Published Jul 9, 2021

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DURBAN – Dr Garth Japhet from Heartlines said the failure to adequately communicate with people who do not have access to online or phone based communication systems on vaccine safety, side effects and on how vaccines work, remained a primary barrier to uptake.

“There is limited use of community radio as a means of reaching rural or poor communities (which) has the highest reach and listenership among this population.

“While we are encouraged that more and more people have indicated that they want to take a Covid-19 vaccine and are basing their decisions on verified information, misinformation continues to be a barrier for some and unfortunately carries a human cost. We appeal to the public to pause before you post as, much like the virus, each of us has the power to break the link of infection and protect ourselves and others.”

Japhet added that consistent, accurate and transparent communication was key to maintaining public trust during a public health emergency.

There was a need to include and update all local level communications actors, such as weekly briefings for community radio stations, local councillors, faith leaders, and NGO networks and systems to update or train health workers.

South African Council of Churches member, Pastor Bongani Nzimela, a paediatrician and pastor of The Believers in Christ Church said the power of “word of mouth” could not be ignored.

Nzimela said the organisation has noticed Covid-19 fatigue and failure to comply with the initial regulations to alleviate the spread of the pandemic, and people were either tired of hearing of the official regulatory requirements or perpetuating fake news on the nature of the pandemic.

“We suggest a re-education process such as lectures at a community level and the use of local voices to spread the correct messaging. Allow the local priests and pastors to get involved as they have established close relations as trusted community leaders.

“Collaboration to ensure that we are all saying the same thing will give more impact, and deter the spread of fake news. Hotlines to alleviate fears may also be useful. Some people need counselling because of traumatic events around Covid-19. Our local leaders must be in the forefront and encouraged to take pictures of themselves taking the vaccine and be ambassadors of the vaccine rollout programme, to alleviate fears and misinformation of the efficacy of the vaccines”, said Nzimela.

Dr Peter Benjamin, coordinator for Healthenabled and one of the contributors to the health department’s Social Listening Report, a multi-stakeholder report that tracks social media and public sentiment said, members of the public were advised to use the health departments hotline as the most credible vehicle for information on Covid-19 and any vaccine concerns.

“The reality is there is too much information at the moment which can be confusing for the public. The hotline has people who have been trained to help the public interpret and understand any information that is shared,” he said.

Health Department spokesperson Popo Maja said: “The Covid-19 pandemic has taught us many valuable lessons. One of them is that there’s strength and wisdom in collaborative endeavours.

“The Risk Communication and Community Engagement (RCCE) team led by (Health), has benefited tremendously (from) working together with multi-sectoral stakeholders who come with different perspectives on mass communication and community engagement.

“We learn something new at every meeting we have. So it is true that good communicators are ardent and perpetual learners. The Social Listening stream of the RCCE at the national level allows us to learn from communities what messages and communication platforms work best for them. We are empowered by that exercise of listening before we tell,” he said.

The Mercury

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VaccineCovid-19