Social Media Platforms to Combat COVID-19 Pandemic in Ethiopia

Abstract

The aim of this study was to assess social media platforms to combat coronavirus pandemic in Ethiopia for need-based communication to address COVID-19 information and to control infodemic information. A mixed research design was used. Self-administered questionnaires, interviews and document analyses were used to gather relevant data from active social media users and healthcare workers that were selected by a simple random sampling technique. The social media integrated theory model to evaluate social media platforms were used.Ministry of Health and Ethiopian Public Health Institute addressed need-based information for 46.75 million people in SMS in 3-6 days intervals, 22 million virtual societies and 7 million social media platform users. The study revealed that the participants used social media platforms: Facebook (83.1%), telegram (59.3%), YouTube (33.9%), web (13.6%), Twitter (11.9%) actively in a moderate way to grasp and share information related to COVID-19. Ministry of Health and Ethiopian Public Health Institute used as a center of COVID-19 information, and it helps to control the infodemic information that arises with the de-central source of information. They were using the World Health Organization communication protocol and strategies to combat the pandemic. Ministry of Health (MOH) and Ethiopian Public Health Institute (EPHI) used social media platforms actively to combat the pandemic. The platforms enabled the public to express their feelings, needs and develop their awareness about COVID-19. The health institutions established the pandemic communication units from the federal to woreda level to disseminate the information and the materials to combat the virus. Yet, the health communication units were politicized.