Rumour and social stigma as barriers to the prevention of coronavirus disease (COVID-19): What solutions to consider?

Abstract

Globally, multiple factors have elevated the risk and contributed to the fast spread of COVID-19. Alongside this, unsolicited rumours and social stigma are believed to be two possible barriers to the effective prevention of the disease. Despite measures taken, rumours and social stigma related to COVID-19 tend to increase globally. Several studies document that rumours and social stigma may fuel the risk and rapid spread of COVID-19. However, how these rumours and social stigma act as barriers to the prevention of the COVID-19 outbreak remain unclear. This article aims to discuss how rumours and social stigma can undermine the preventive and clinical efforts to fight against the spread of COVID-19 and suggest potential policy implications for addressing rumours and social stigma and optimising preventive efforts. A narrative review of secondary sources of data, including published studies, grey literature and authentic press reports was conducted. The analysis indicates that unverified rumours associated with COVID-19 may weaken people's preparedness for a new infectious disease by driving them to wrong treatment and preventing them from adhering to evidence-based medical suggestions and treatment. Findings also suggest that social stigma may reduce healthcare workers' agency and self-respect to provide support, treatment and care for those with COVID-19. Social stigma may also constrain participation in screening, testing, quarantine, isolation, and treatment of the disease. This article offers six potential policy pathways and emphasises the national and international coordination of all stakeholders for addressing rumours and social stigma associated with COVID-19.

<p>Perceived Barriers and Preventive Measures of COVID-19 Among Healthcare Providers in Debretabor, North Central Ethiopia, 2020</p>

“…8 Despite the recommendations to prevent the transmission of COVID-19, different barriers were reported by healthcare personnel. Accordingly, the shortage of personal protective equipment, poor quality PPE, scarce diagnostic kits, turnover of staffing [9][10][11][12] inadequate training, poor adherence, poor practice to infection prevention (IP) measures, rumors and social stigma, 13,14 risk of violence, 15 poor compliance to physical distancing, 16 and fears about unpaid sick leave 17 were reported.…”

COVID-19 and Stigmatisation Processes

“…The stigma caused by COVID-19 has profound implications in numerous dimensions, namely (i) the reinforcement of stereotypes and pre-existing ideas (Chopra & Arora, 2020); and (ii) the existence of rumours (Huda et al, 2020;Chopra & Arora, 2020), which hinders collaboration in controlling the disease (testing, maintaining isolation or prophylactic quarantine,…) (Huda et al, 2020;Imran et al, 2020;Tomczyk, Rahn, & Schmidt, 2020;Roelen et al, 2020;Adja, Golinelli, Lenzi, Fantini, & Wu, 2020).…”

“…In general, establishing successful communication about the COVID-19 infection is critical (Prosen, 2020;Peprah & Gyasi, 2020;Huda, Islam, Qureshi, Pillai, & Hossain, 2020), in the context of articulation between several collective actors (Abdelhafiz & Alorabi, 2020;Singh & Subedi, 2020), with several possible and necessary options to take (Hargreaves & Logie, 2020;Taylor, Landry, Rachor, Paluszek, & Asmundson, 2020). Table 1 offers an example of this type of measures and actions to fight the stigma caused by COVID-19, mobilising the recommendations of Abdelhafiz and Alorabi (2020) for the specific Egyptian context.…”

Post COVID-19 complications and preventive measures to safeguard from third wave

“…This entails that the people need to take precautions in terms of wearing masks, maintaining safe distance of six feet from one another, regularly washing and sanitising hands. In this regard, behaviour is also being touted as an effective protective measure against the virus (Huda et. al, 2020).…”

“…al, 2020). 11 Another highly effective way to protect against the virus, in medical terms, is to take the vaccines (either one or both, depending on the vaccine being taken). It is being said that the vaccines should be prioritised in the whole country, as they singularly, are the most effective means through which the third wave can be controlled and minimised (Khandelwal and Kumar, 2020).…”