Abstract
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) spread throughout China in January 2020. To contain the virus outbreak, the Chinese government took extraordinary measures in terms of public policy, wherein accurate and timely dissemination of information plays a crucial role. Despite all of the efforts toward studying this health emergency, little is known about the effectiveness of public policies that support health communication during such a crisis to disseminate knowledge for self-protection. Particularly, we focus on the accuracy and timeliness of knowledge dissemination on COVID-19 among people in remote regions—a topic largely omitted in existing research. In February 2020, at the early-stages of the COVID-19 outbreak, a questionnaire survey was carried out. In total, 8,520 participants from seven less economically developed provinces situated in the borderlands of China with large ethnic minority groups responded. We analyzed the data through poisson regression and logistic regression analyses. We found that (1) people in remote regions of China obtained accurate information on COVID-19. Further, they were able to take appropriate measures to protect themselves. (2) Result from both descriptive analysis and multivariable regression analysis revealed that there is no large difference in the accuracy of information among groups. (3) Older, less educated, and rural respondents received information with a significant delay, whereas highly educated, younger, urban residents and those who obtained information through online media were more likely to have received the news of the outbreak sooner and to be up to date on the information. This research provides evidence that disadvantage people in remote regions obtained accurate and essential information required to act in an appropriate manner in responses to the COVID-19 outbreak. However, they obtained knowledge on COVID-19 at a slower pace than other people; thus, further improvement in the timely dissemination of information among disadvantage people in remote regions is warranted.
Highlights
In the early 2020s, China encountered a serious public health emergency after coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) was first diagnosed in Wuhan in December 2019 [1] and subsequently spread throughout the country in less than a month
Less educated individuals, indigenous individuals, older individuals, and rural and remote-region residents do not get accurate and timely health emergency information [14, 42]. This kind of communication inequality is quite common, which causes marginalized social groups to be at a higher risk than estimated and to be less likely to follow recommended behaviors [13, 15, 16]
Researchers argue that developing countries with weak health systems and regional, cultural, linguistic and ethnic diversity should pay more attention to the role of effective communication, without leaving anyone behind when communicating crisis and risk to the population to address the COVID-19 pandemic [43]
Summary
In the early 2020s, China encountered a serious public health emergency after coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) was first diagnosed in Wuhan in December 2019 [1] and subsequently spread throughout the country in less than a month. Since the person-to-person transmission of COVID-19 was scientifically confirmed [3, 4], the Chinese government has taken tremendous efforts to inform the public and control further transmission These measures include putting cities on lockdown, restricting public transportation, limiting migration of labor and traveling, closing stores and other business operations, mandating the use of face masks in public, as well as various other measures of quarantine [5]. The effectiveness of such measures, largely depends on public awareness on the risk and people’s knowledge regarding self-protection. It is challenging to deliver information and knowledge regarding the virus outbreak to marginalized people in a timely manner, including ethnic minorities who are more likely to live in remote areas and suffer from poverty, potentially being more vulnerable to the risk of the disease because of the lack of local medical support and healthcare resources
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