Exploring Vrede Community views on government communications on COVID-19.
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Date
2022
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Abstract
The unprecedented speed and scale of the global pandemic of coronavirus disease
(COVID-19) have literally shut down countries and the global economy. Though
a limited outbreak of the disease was noticed around December 2019 in Wuhan,
China, the World Health Organisation declared the outbreak a Public Health
Emergency of international concern on 30 January 2020, and a pandemic on 11
March 2020. While the impact of the disease is unique in different countries because of cultural norms, mitigation efforts and health infrastructure, the biggest
challenge of various countries is communicating the behaviour of the disease and
public health programmes articulated by various governments to inform and
educate their citizens. Vrede in Free State Province, South Africa, has also seen
these challenges, ranging from cultural challenges to infodemics, which is a major
concern for WHO. Using a qualitative approach, the study adopted the Health
Belief Model (HBM) theory to examine the views of the residents of Vrede
community on government crises and risk communication strategies with a view
to evolving effective communication strategies to achieve public safety. The study
adopted the semi-structured interview data collection method and spoke with 12
participants of different sex and age, and analysed the data using the applied
thematic analysis. The study concluded that, while infodemic was perceived as
misleading information, there is a need for governmental information to become
bottom-up in ensuring effective communication.
Description
Research Articles. Criminology and Forensic Studies.
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Citation
Udoh, J.A., Mkhize, S.M. and Hosea, O.P., 2022. Exploring Vrede Community Views on Government Communications on COVID-19. Journal of African Films and Diaspora Studies, 5(2), p.51.