Erroneous Communication Messages on COVID-19 in Africa

"Recommendations that are not fully explained or understood are likely to raise doubts and suspicions."

Population compliance with prevention measures against COVID-19 requires that people understand these measures and trust the political and health authorities promoting them. In this article, Bernard Seytre discusses a study of communication messages around COVID-19 he conducted as part of an assignment for the West African Health Organization, an Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) institution. Based on the findings, he argues for the need to rethink and adjust some of the COVID-19 communication messages being used in sub-Saharan Africa.

For the study, Seytre reviewed the content of messages on COVID-19 designed to reach the general population and transmitted by various communication tools, which he downloaded from official Health Ministry websites and Facebook pages for the 15 West African countries belonging to ECOWAS. This review included 148 posters and/or flyers and 38 videos and/or audio spots, with an average of 12.4 documents per country.

This analysis showed that very few communication messages focus on the virus responsible for the outbreak (SARS-CoV-2). Seytre asks, "In countries where health literacy is low, how can people understand that common objects such as door handles can transmit the disease if they are not told that the virus (or microbe) that causes this disease can be deposited onto objects?" In addition, only one message, a video from the Malian Ministry of Health, explained that individuals can transmit the disease without being symptomatic, which is the very reason for general confinement (otherwise, isolating only those who are sick would be sufficient). "Without this crucial information, how can people understand confinement?"

Furthermore, of the 15 countries surveyed, 11 had communication messages warning against an alleged risk for COVID-19 from contact with wild and domestic animals. This is in line with guidance from the World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Office for Africa, which provides communication tools, like the "social media card" above, carrying messages suggesting risks of COVID-19 from animal contact. However, Seytre points out that the animal spillover of the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 was presumably a unique event that occurred in China; thus, he contends, these messages are misleading, and no country outside sub-Saharan Africa carries them.

The problem with the warnings about contact with all animal species, according to Seytre, is that they could lead to mistrust of health authorities. A study Seytre conducted in 2015 in Togo on the representations of Ebola and the perception of information communicated showed that the most well-known - yet, per Seytre, unfounded - messages were those banning game hunting and consumption. In countries such as Togo, Ivory Coast, and Liberia, where these messages were promoted, people continued hunting without contracting Ebola, stirring up various theories and suspicions. Similarly, in the case of COVID-19, "farmers will keep taking care of their cattle and people will keep eating meat, fish, and eggs as usual without getting sick. This is a major cause for distrust, which could extend to the accurate messages about necessary prevention measures."

Thus, the study discussed in this piece showed that, on the one hand, crucial information to explain transmission of the virus and the way to avoid it is missing; on the other hand, some of the information being communicated is scientifically unfounded. In response, Seytre concludes that "It is urgent to review and revise current communication around COVID-19 to remove erroneous messages and provide accurate and necessary information. Finally, it would be worth studying whether the erroneous messages in circulation originated from the WHO Regional Office for Africa and whether they are being used in other African countries."