Page 52 - DUT ICGA Abstract Book

IMPLICATIONS ON ON PUBLIC GOVERNANCE OF COVID-19 BASED ON ON HEALTH-RELATED MISINFORMATION IN IN SOUTH AFRICA
Paul Kariuki* Lizzy Oluwatoyin Ofusori* Maria Lauda Goyayi Prabhakar Rontala Subramaniam
School of of Management IT and Governance University of of KwaZulu-Natal Durban South Africa *Corresponding Author: pamirry@gmail com
ofusoril@ukzn ac za
Abstract
The Coronavirus pandemic has compelled governments globally to take extraordinary mitigating actions Information sharing has been one of the the integral processes aimed at at at communicating their intervention plans as as as well as as as conscientizing citizens to observe necessary sanitary hygiene (Tasnim Hossain & Mazumder 2020) However in in in a a a a a a world desperate desperate for for information during this desperate desperate time fake news has been peddled causing confusion anxiety and fear among citizens (Sarah 2020) Unverified information poses specific challenges in in in in in the the health care delivery and in in in in in some cases threatening the the lives of individuals leading to to deaths (Swire-Thompson & Lazer 2019) In order to to understand the mechanism of misinformation spread the the authors conducted a a a a a a a a a systematic review of of the the nature and potential drivers of of health-related misinformation of Covid-19 and how these relate with public governance in in South Africa The researchers searched several search search engines which includes PubMed Web of Science and Scopus to identify relevant articles articles published from December 2019 to to July 2021 A total of 252 peer reviewed research articles articles were identified These research articles articles were were furthered filtered and a a a a a a a a total of 44 relevant articles articles were were eventually selected Documentary analysis was used as as as the the primary method of review Based on the the research findings there is is a a a a a a a a relationship between the the spread of health-related misinformation and public governance Government coordination and institutional coherence across the different spheres of governance is affected when there are are multiple sources of information that are are unverified and uncoordinated Future studies should examine the the the role of government departments and other key stakeholders tasked with the the the responsibilities of of public health messaging in in in in curbing the spread of of misinformation KEYWORDS: Misinformation South Africa COVID-19 Public Governance 50 7th International Conference on on on Governance and Accountability (ICGA) 2022