Evaluating The Effectiveness of Government-Led Public Health Campaigns for Covid-19 Communication Strategies in Zimbabwe

As the COVID-19 pandemic spread globally, Zimbabwean authorities intervened to protect the nation. Their dissemination of information about COVID-19 prevention protocols was thereby put to the test, revealing a complex web of strengths, weaknesses and missed opportunities that warrant a critical examination and reflection. Drawing insights from observations and in-depth interviews conducted in the Chinhoyi and Makonde districts of Zimbabwe, this paper critically examines the effectiveness of the communication strategies employed by the central government to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 virus. The observations and interviews indicate that many people did not comply with the COVID-19 prevention protocols of wearing face masks, social distancing, lockdown, curfews and banning social gatherings. The government’s spirited COVID-19 prevention campaign was generally met with an unsatisfactory public response due to its failure to leverage the multi-modal communication platform of word-of-mouth, electronic (radio, television, social media) and print media to ensure balanced messaging that helped to deliver both the desired behaviour change and to combat misinformation that undermined public compliance. In addition, the government was remiss in ensuring that communication reached all segments of the population, addressing issues of rural-urban divide and literacy barriers, engaging with communities to empower them to be active participants in knowledge sharing, partnering with community leaders, religious figures, and trusted local voices to amplify COVID-19 messaging and to equip citizens with the ability to analyse information and distinguish trustworthy from untrustworthy sources. Keywords: COVID-19, Communication strategy, Pandemics, health communication, public health campaigns, effectiveness of authority-led public campaigns, social behaviour change