A Pandemic on Two Fronts
How Lao PDR is responding to the COVID-19 pandemic and infodemic.
News travel fast but false news travel even faster.
For the last three years, the COVID-19 pandemic has been a fight on two fronts for health authorities in Lao PDR: containing the virus itself and the spread of false information.
One of the people helping Lao PDR in this regard is Mr. Bounthan Souphanthone. A former nurse, he now works at the Xiengkhouang Provincial Health Office and is responsible for keeping those in the province updated on the latest news about COVID-19 and vaccination.
Mr. Bounthan recounts how earlier during the pandemic, when fears around COVID-19 ran high, people did not hesitate to get vaccinated. However, as the pandemic dragged on, false news surrounding COVID-19 and vaccination began spreading and people became more reluctant to get vaccinated.
“There are less harmful ones like how eating hardboiled chicken eggs can prevent you from contracting COVID-19. There are also pernicious ones, such as when the death of a villager was falsely attributed to COVID-19 vaccines. Such cases could derail the entire vaccination campaign in a village if left unaddressed,” said Mr. Bounthan.
Keeping An Ear to the Ground
Understanding what people feel and are saying about COVID-19 and vaccination is key to addressing their concerns and false news. In Xiengkhouang, Mr. Bounthan had to be resourceful and used several means to gather such information.
“During peak lockdown, I was stationed at the provincial health office for two weeks at a time where we run a COVID-19 hotline service. We also have a radio programme about various health topics every Thursday where people could call in,” he explained.
Mr. Bounthan is also an admin of the Xiengkhouang Provincial Health Office Facebook page where he monitors public comments daily to understand people’s concerns. He has to go through all the comments individually though as his province currently does not have the software to automatically monitor them.
These Insights are invaluable for Mr. Bounthan in strategically targeting his public messages to the most common concerns about COVID-19 and vaccination, as well as identifying and addressing false news before they get out of hand.
Based on these insights, Mr. Bounthan and Xiengkhouang health authorities have organised various activities. Most recently, they launched a full-scale campaign to promote COVID-19 vaccination at the 11th Lao National Games, one of the biggest sporting events in Lao PDR which was hosted by Xiengkhouang in December 2022.
“I admit the work was really tiring, especially during the peak of the pandemic when it was only myself and one more person working on health communication. However, knowing that the whole province is relying on us, I want to fulfill my duties as best as I can,” reflected Mr. Bounthan.
To help health workers like Mr. Bounthan in Lao PDR better analyse public attitudes and respond to concerns about COVID-19 and vaccination, UNICEF and WHO, with the support of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Australian Agency For International Development (AusAID), has organised several workshops across Lao PDR on social listening. The topics covered include designing effective communications content, using a social media monitoring software, and offline and online techniques for better social listening on COVID-19.
