The Perception of COVID-19 Communication in West Africa (Non-Sahel): Report

"Empowerment of people through Media and Information Literacy (MIL) is an essential prerequisite for fostering equitable access to information and knowledge and promoting free, independent and pluralistic media and information system."

In response to the "infodemic" around the COVID-19 pandemic, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Office in Abuja, Nigeria, launched a survey on the perception of COVID-19 communication in West Africa (non-Sahel). Conducted between April 28 and May 10 2020, this survey sought to understand how people in Benin, Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana, Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, and Togo obtain and use information on COVID-19 for behavioural change.

The survey was designed under the overarching framework of UNESCO's flagship area of media and information literacy (MIL), which focuses on empowering citizens to understand the functions of media and other information providers, to critically evaluate media content, and to make informed decisions as users and producers of that content.

In all, 522 respondents were surveyed. Key findings:

• The majority (97.9%, n=511) believe that COVID-19 is real.
• People seem to be most interested in information on prevention methods, treatments, a potential vaccine, and transmission; they pay less attention to pandemic statistics (local, national, and international). People aged 15-34 years old pay more attention to the broadest range of topics with regards to COVID-19 and are most concerned with actions taken by other countries and international communities.
• Many of the respondents (n=139) who requested further information wanted to know more about possible cures and treatments for COVID-19, including local cures in some African countries.
• "Social media platform" is the most used to gather information about COVID-19, followed by television, websites, radio, printed media, consultation with medical staff, and communication through non-medical sources.
• Information from multilateral organisations (e.g., the World Health Organization (WHO), International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), United Nations) is most trusted by the respondents (scored 3.66 out of 5), followed by medical staff (scored 3.36 out of 5) and international news houses (scored 3.27 out of 5).
• The majority of respondents have encountered suspicious information on local and traditional treatments.
• Respondents often verify the information they received from other sources of information on COVID-19 with information from multilateral organisations, followed by information from national governmental institutions and information from international news houses.
• Respondents prefer to receive information from official national publishers, official international publishers, and scientific researchers.

Based on these findings, UNESCO concludes that a literate society and proper responses to a public emergency such as COVID-19 cannot be realised without the efforts of different stakeholders. In line with the results of the survey, feasible and effective mechanisms to check mis- and disinformation on social media should be put in place by relevant stakeholders. Curtailing the "infodemic" requires considerable support and efforts from content producers such as journalists, publishers and news media houses, governmental institutions, and people themselves - whose critical evaluation on the information they produce, receive, and spread is necessary. In this chain of communication, collaboration among academia, civil society organisations (CSOs), and governments is fundamental.

Specifically, the results suggest some possible ways to combat mis- and disinformation, including:

• Multilateral organisations should further embrace their roles in establishing an active channel to provide validated and reliable information.
• Professional knowledge from medical staff and scientists should be disseminated to ensure the flow of relevant and reliable information.
• Close cooperation with different stakeholders should be initiated in order to support, for example, an emergency communication mechanism to ensure that information from different sources is effectively verified.
• More measures should be conducted to combat COVID-19-related misinformation on social media platforms.

Click here to read or download the 25-page report in English in PDF format.
Click here to read or download the 24-page report in French in PDF format.