Exploring the Role of Infodemics in People's Incompliance with Preventive Measures during the COVID-19 in Conflict Settings (Mixed Method Study)

Abstract

The evolving availability of health information on social media, regardless of its credibility, raises several questions about its impact on our health decisions and social behaviors, especially during health crises and in conflict settings where compliance with preventive measures and health guidelines is already a challenge due to socioeconomic factors. For these reasons, we assessed compliance with preventive measures and investigated the role of infodemic in people's non-compliance with COVID-19 containment measures in Yemen. To this purpose and to triangulate our data collection, we executed a mixed method approach in which raw aggregated data were taken and analyzed from multiple sources (COVID-19 Government Response Tracker and Google COVID-19 Community Mobility Reports), then complemented and verified with In-depth interviews. Our results showed that the population in Yemen had relatively complied with the governmental containment measures at the beginning of the pandemic. However, containment measures were not supported by daily COVID-19 reports due to low transparency, which, together with misinformation and lack of access to reliable sources, has caused the population not to believe in COVID-19 and even practice social pressure on those who showed some compliance with the WHO guidelines. Those results indicate the importance of adopting an infodemic management approach in response to future outbreaks, particularly in conflict settings.

Keywords: COVID-19 preventive measures; Infodemic management; health crises; health misinformation; incompliance; information access; information source; restriction on movement; social behaviors.

Figure 1

(a) Yemen Stringency Index; (b) Yemen Stringency Index from 10 April 2020 till the end of 2020; (c) Yemen Stringency Index during 2021.

Figure 1

(a) Yemen Stringency Index; (b) Yemen Stringency Index from 10 April 2020 till the end of 2020; (c) Yemen Stringency Index during 2021.

Figure 2

(a) Human mobility after the start of containment measures in Yemen during 2020. Blue = Retail and recreation, Red = Grocery and pharmacy, Gray = Parks, Orange = Transit stations, Light blue = Workplaces, Green = Residential; (b) Human mobility after the start of containment measures in Yemen during 2021. Blue = Retail and recreation, Red = Grocery and pharmacy, Gray = Parks, Orange = Transit stations, Light blue = Workplaces, and Green = Residential.