Exploring COVID-19 infodemic in rural Africa: A case study of Chintheche, Malawi

Abstract

While the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) which causes COVID-19) has triggered a worldwide frenzied race to find a vaccine or cure, another battle is raging against technological, medicinal, religious, geopolitical and other infodemics. A two-legged qualitative study in Chintheche, a small rural town in Malawi, Africa, was conducted to explore how the residents there perceived and navigated COVID-19 amidst all the infodemic. The first leg of the study concluded that the interviewees were aware and knowledgeable about COVID-19, and the health impact it posed, but nearly half of them doubted its presence in Malawi. The second leg found that participants no longer doubted COVID-19’s presence in Malawi as some prominent people they knew in their locality had either died or been hospitalized with the disease. The study concludes that only evidence of pandemics getting closer to home may change people’s dismissive attitudes and moderate their behaviours.