The case to scale up edutainment as an effective public health communication intervention to combat the COVID-19 pandemic in Zimbabwe

Tafadzwa Dzinamarira; Brian Nachipo; Albert Nyathi; Roda Madziva; Helena Herrera; Hugh Siegel; Godfrey Musuka

doi:10.34172/hpp.2022.05

The case to scale up edutainment as an effective public health communication intervention to combat the COVID-19 pandemic in Zimbabwe

Health Promot Perspect. 2022 May 29;12(1):34-36. doi: 10.34172/hpp.2022.05. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Tafadzwa Dzinamarira^{1

2}, Brian Nachipo³, Albert Nyathi⁴, Roda Madziva⁵, Helena Herrera⁶, Hugh Siegel⁷, Godfrey Musuka²

Affiliations

¹ School of Health Systems & Public Health, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, 0002, South Africa.
² ICAP at Columbia University, Harare, Zimbabwe.
³ Ministry of Health and Child Care, AIDS and TB Control Programme, Harare, Zimbabwe.
⁴ Independent Consultant, Harare, Zimbabwe.
⁵ School of Sociology and Social Policy, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK.
⁶ School of Pharmacy and Biomedical Sciences, University of Portsmouth, Portsmouth, UK.
⁷ ICAP at Columbia University, New York, USA.

Abstract

Efforts to control the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic have been negatively affected by myths, misconceptions and misinformation, fuelled by an "infodemic" spread via social media platforms. In response, The Zimbabwean COVID-19 response built on its experience with past public health communication strategies to employ edutainment strategies for COVID-19 awareness campaigns. This article discusses the different strategies and how they were employed. In this perspective piece, the authors discuss edutainment as an effective vehicle for reaching wider sectors of society. In tackling complex social issues with simple language, integrated into various entertainment formats, edutainment can bring about change in contexts where traditional strategies and actions may prove unsuccessful.

Keywords: COVID-19; Communication; Public health.

Publication types

Review