The Challenges in the Fight against COVID-19 Pandemic: A Qualitative Study

Background: COVID-19 pandemic has dominated the global space for more than a year, and the world faces a lot of challenges in the battle against the deadly virus. This study highlights funda­mental issues that undermine the fight against the COVID-19pandemic and informs on how government and health authorities might further the cause of pandemic control. This study aimed is to analyze challenges that hinder the battle against the COVID-19pandemic from the viewpoint of the Nigerian Twitter community. Subjects and Method: This was a qualitative study with phenomenological approach, conducted using an online survey through Google Forms with Nigerian Twitter community. A total of 128 informants were selected using a list-based sampling technique. The data was managed, cleaned, organized and analyzed in SPSS, Microsoft Excel Spreadsheet, Microsoft Word and Microsoft Notepad. Results: 40.6% of the informants are in the field of Education, 11.7% are Entrepreneurs, 10.9% are Students, 10.9% are Civil Servants, 9.4% are IT Specialists, while 7.0% are Engineers. Issues that undermines the fight against COVID-19pandemic according to the findings from this study were summarized and classified into five themes, included: 1) Fake News Distort Health Messages on Covid-19, 2) Conspiracy Theories on Covid-19, 3) Mismanagement of COVID-19pandemic, 4) Lack of Government Trust on Covid-19, 5) Lack of Adequate Information on Covid-19. Conclusion: Findings suggest that these five issues are key in fighting the COVID-19scourge and must be addressed in future pandemic mitigation efforts and control plans. Keywords: COVID-19, health communication, fake news, pandemic, health messages Correspondence: Sanni Shamsudeen Ademola. Department of Computer Science, Faculty of Science and Engineering, University of Eswatini. Private Bag 4, Matsapha Manzini, The Kingdom of Eswatini. Email: [email protected]. Mobile: +26876241155/ 79241155 Journal of Health Promotion and Behavior (2021), 06(02): 133-143 DOI: https://doi.org/10.26911/thejhpb.2021.06.02.0

Effect of COVID-19 Infodemic on Media Trust and Perceived Stress

Background: Health infodemic undermines public health response, results in poor observance of public health measures and costs lives. Health campaigns will not produce intended results without controlling misinformation. This study aimed to analyzed the correlation between infodemic, COVID-19 stress and media trust. Subjects and Method: This was a cross sectional study conducted using online structured questionnaire, from December 2020 to January 2021. A total of 470 participants among African twitter community were randomly selected for this study. The dependent variables were COVID-19 stress and media trust. The independent variable was while Infodemic serve. The data was analysed using Pearson’s product moment correlation coefficient test. Results: COVID-19 stress  (r= 0.369; p<0.001) and media trust (r= 0.301; p<0.001) were correlated with infodemic and it was statistically significant. Conclusion: infodemic is correlated with COVID-19 stress and media trust. Keywords: infodemic, health communication, media trust, stress, COVID-19 Correspondence: Sanni Shamsudeen Ademola. Department of Computer Science, Faculty of Science and Engineer­ing, University of Eswatini, Private Bag 4, Matsapha, manzana, Kingdom of Eswatini. Email: [email protected]. Mobile: +26876241155/79241155. Journal of Health Promotion and Behavior (2021), 06(02): 144-153 DOI: https://doi.org/10.26911/thejhpb.2021.06.02.0

Analysis of Twitter Conversation on COVID-19 Pandemic in Africa 2019-2020

Background: Communication about COVID-19 pandemic has a huge impact on coordination, control and mitigation efforts against the disease. Patterns and trends of COVID-19 pandemic conversations amongst African tweeps between the year 2019 and 2020 was studied. This study aimed to determine the impact of Twitter COVID-19 information dissemination on attitudes, behaviour and decision making during the pandemic. Subjects and Method: This was a cohort study with combined quantitative and qualitative approach. This study was conducted in Africa, from December 2019 to December 2020. The quantitative approach was founded on data mining and data analytics research approach, applying measurements in terms of counts, numbers and frequencies while qualitative approach was founded on Natural Language Processing (NPL) algorithm to extract themes/topics and further applying sentiment analysis to a body of large textual data. Results: A total number of 24,251 tweets was recorded, out of which 9, 016 (37.2%) of the tweets were positive, indicating positive attitude towards COVID-19 related information, control, treatment and regulations. A number of 7, 024 (29%) of tweets were considered neutral, indicating a neutral opinion on conversations related to COVID-19, while 8, 211 (33.9%) were considered negative tweets.  South Africa is the most frequently used word and frequently used hashtag followed by Nigeria. Result further revealed four clear topics of discussion which are: a) Africa coronavirus, b) First sub-Saharan pandemic variant, c) Total number of confirmed new deaths, and d) COVID-19 cases in Africa. Besides, it was observed that most health authorities and health partners in Africa are not actively participating on Twitter. Conclusion: Health information dissemination on social media must be moderated through censorship, otherwise fake news and misinformation would persist to aggravate the spread of diseases and cause deaths. In order to protect the public against false information, public health institutions, governments and partners in health should establish an active presence on social media to share factual information, and timely debunk misinformation.  Keywords: Africa, COVID-19, twitter Conversation, social media, sentiment Analysis Correspondence:  Sanni Shamsudeen Ademola. Department of Computer Science, Faculty of Science and Engineer­ing, University of Eswatini, Private Bag 4, Matsapha, Manzini, Kingdom of Eswatini. Email: [email protected]. Mobile: +26876241155/79241155 Journal of Health Promotion and Behavior (2021), 06(04): 272-283 DOI: https://doi.org/10.26911/thejhpb.2021.06.04.0