The last 18 months have been unlike any other, characterized by many standout moments where the power of communication proved critical in either uniting or dividing us.
Major events such as the Covid-19 pandemic and Black Lives Matter movement were defined by an image, a quote, tweet or video, which reinforced the critical role of communications in times of crisis.
In Kenya, we have religiously followed the daily Covid briefings. These sessions have had a strong impact on the success (or failure) of the government’s pandemic control efforts and with that, the national attitudes of our acceptance and response to it.
Dissecting 2020 and the pandemic, communication has been at the core of this global challenge. Medics, like other stakeholders, need to adopt effective communication skills that allow them to tell the Covid-19 story better and encourage individuals to actively participate in proposed interventions.
During this period, Covid-19 communications and interventions have birthed pro- and anti-vaccine movements, which can be traced back to the relative novelty of the disease and the fact that much about it remains fluid and unknown.
One challenge facing stakeholders is how to communicate consistently and correctly about Covid-19, the complexity of which has exacerbated the situation and bred fear and misinformation. This has in turn plagued the success of awareness and vaccination campaigns.
History has taught us that people dread and oppose what they don't understand. As has been the case with many unknowns such as HIV AIDS and Ebola, among others, Covid-19 communication is anchored in lack of information, leading to anxiety and opposition that in turn resulted in stereotyping and twisted facts.
For Covid-19, these fears have been well manifested in citizens ignoring protocols and more recently, apathy and hesitancy around vaccination. For the citizenry, the lack of information has raised more questions than answers, with many people questioning the speed at which the vaccine was developed against the emergence of conspiracy theories from anti-vaxxers. In my opinion, they understand and apply communication tactics better than medics and governments.
The success of anti-vaxxers is an indication that governments and medics have been slow in adapting to communication in the digital age and applying the principles around successfully selling an idea or narrative. This has resulted in a large part of the populace using available (mis)information to form opinions contrary to what the experts advice. As a result, we have vocal and influential members of society leading the vaccine hesitancy narrative and because they have a following and are deemed more believable, they sway the public’s opinion in their favour.
The vaccine works; best when over 60 per cent of us are vaccinated and we are able to create a level of herd immunity that can take us back to pre-pandemic “normalcy”. This has been true for diseases like small-pox, measles and polio that have been contained and even eradicated. The effort behind Covid-19 calls for we, the custodians of accurate information, to drive a campaign of learning, unlearning and re-learning the myths, facts and truths about the pandemic and the interventions around it.
We need to let our citizens know that vaccine penetration in Africa differs from what we see in the West owing to several factors, including equitable distribution, and that while the most affected countries have been characterized by very high urban populations, the case in Africa will take a different tangent as a result of our unique demographics.
With our dispersed population, virus spread will continue to be protracted, slow and consistently infecting, hence small spikes but spread over a longer period compared to other nations. Our low numbers are no consolation, neither are they an indication that infections will suddenly stop spreading and peaking, thus the urgent need to vaccinate as many people as possible.
As we focus on how and what next, we as medics need to step up and let our voices be heard. We have an obligation to communicate better to the public and ensure they get the right information delivered by voices that speak to all in a clear, consistent and concise manner.
We need to own the narrative and influence conversations on Covid-19 based on scientific facts. Effective communication is therefore a skill medics must develop in order to cut through all the (mis)information and clutter, and ensure we use our voices to help the public navigate this and future pandemics.
Prof. Joachim Osur is a public health specialist and the vice-chancellor, Amref International University
