Health awareness campaign vital for COVID 19 : Prof Dr Rubeena Zakar

Lahore : Findings of a scientific research have revealed that increased frequency of following media indicates that health awareness campaigns are important for enhancing the knowledge of the general public regarding COVID-19. It is found further that awareness and knowledge related to COVID-19 symptoms and preventive measures significantly increased over time among people.

The research titled “Role of media in health-related awareness campaigns on the perception towards 2019 Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19): A pre-post study in the general population in Rawalpindi Pakistan” has been jointly conducted by Punjab University Institute of Social and Cultural Studies Director Prof Dr Rubeena Zakar and PhD Public Health scholar Mr Atta-ur-Rehman. 

Explaining the study, Porf Dr Rubeena Zakar said in a statement that the study used pre-post design among 384 respondents. She said the first response (t1) from participants was filled in the first week of February 2020 before any confirmed case reported in the country and the second response (t2) after one month of the first case detection in Pakistan (March 2020). She said that according to the findings of the result, a more frequent use of electronic media is associated with higher knowledge gains from t1 to t2.

She said that media health awareness campaigns were started just after the detection of the first case in Pakistan. She said that the exposure to media as well as the knowledge related to COVID-19, particularly related to its symptoms and to frequent handwashing as a preventive measure, increased over time. She said that whereas only a quarter of respondents judged isolation of suspected cases in quarantine as important to prevent the spread of infection in society at t1, more than half did so at t2. She said that the same increase was visible related to the statement that a lockdown helped follow social distancing.

Prof Zakar said that medical preparedness and community education were the most valued preventive tools for combating the pandemic. She said that media had already served as an important source for health education and promotion in our societies for decades. She said that health-related communication campaigns at media were aimed at changing the health behavior of the population by creating awareness and promoting prevention, such as hand hygiene practices and immunization coverage.