Virtual Aunting and Public Health Emergencies: A Novel Approach to Sharing Public Health Guidance.

Abstract

Effective communication with the public is essential during health emergencies. As evident during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, the lack of effective public health communication with equity-deserving groups has contributed to higher morbidity and mortality than the non-racialized community. This concept paper will describe a grassroots community effort to provide culturally safe public health information to the East African community in Toronto at the beginning of the pandemic. Community members collaborated with The LAM Sisterhood to create a virtual aunt, Auntie Betty, and record voice notes with essential public health guidance in Swahili and Kinyarwanda. This manner of communicating with the East African community was well-received and has shown great potential as a tool to support effective communication efforts during public health emergencies that disproportionately impact Black and equity-deserving communities.