The Technical Team on COVID-19 formed by National Democratic Congress (NDC) flagbearer has noted that concise translation of the key messages into every local language must be an immediate priority of the Ministry of Information as part of measures to avert the spread of the deadly disease.
The team in a statement said the management of information related to the size of the outbreak itself, the details of the testing program, and the outcomes for patients must be consistent.
“This information is vital to reinforcing messages about the reality and risks of COVID-19 and to fill the information vacuum that supports the spread of inaccurate information. It is also important as a source of data for the academic and research communities, whose evaluation and analysis of the state of affairs and progress in this fight are crucial in aiding our collective preparedness for any germane crisis we might face in the future.
The NDC Technical Team said data should be structured in a user-friendly format and made available in a template common to researchers such as a downloadable online table.
“It is crucial for the Ministry of Information and the Ghana Health Service to develop a proactive strategy for monitoring and refuting the false information on COVID-19 circulating on social and digital media. The rapid spread of fake remedies and hoaxes about susceptibility, among others, may themselves create a false sense of security that reduces vigilance in personal preventive measures. It is important to identify these messages and to be proactive in debunking and disproving them to ensure that the signal does not get drowned out by the noise.”
Source: Mybrytfmonline/Kofi Atakora
