By: Staff Writer
March 22, 2022
The The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) said in a report that people in the region had adequate access to information to make decisions on COVID-19 but gaps existed with regard to treatment, testing and mental health support.
The IFRC, in a recent report, “COVID-19 IN THE AMERICAS: LISTENING TO THE MOST VULNERABLE,” highlights the challenges with information asymmetry in the region in regard to COVID-19 across nine countries in the Caribbean and Latin America.
The report said their survey showed that “participants around the whole region receive sufficient COVID-19 related information and the majority of participants (93 percent) say that the information they receive is useful and relevant to their situation. There is a clear difference in Guatemala, however, where only two thirds of the persons responding (mostly migrants) say that they find the information useful. There are age differences that are important to consider. Younger persons (18–29) use social media and active web-based research to access information. The elderly (above 70) prefer a more direct contact to receive information.”
It added, however, “Despite the abundance of information, the survey shows some important gaps. The experiences with patient care or the knowledge of COVID-19 treatments fell outside of the scope of the study, but they have been identified as information gaps that could and should be explored soon. Importantly, the responses show a lack of information on mental health, even though recent evidence shows the enormous effect the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health,). Indigenous peoples report having received less information overall, especially on prevention measures, isolation measures and risks and complications if getting sick.”
Health professionals are the most trusted source of information by far, with political leaders being last. Traditional mass media like radio and television was the most preferred mediums for gathering information for citizens with social media platforms only being largely ineffective to having messaging sink in to the various target audiences.
Jamaicans were the most unwilling to take the COVID-19 vaccine as the report detailed, “The participants in all countries express a general willingness towards taking the COVID-19 vaccine. Only two out of ten of the people asked would refuse to take it, except in Jamaica where the number reaches five out of ten. Nicaragua, Panama, Colombia and Argentina show high levels of vaccine acceptance with over 70 percent of respondents willing to be vaccinated. The high rate in Trinidad and Tobago (80 percent) can be explained by the inclusion of refugees and migrants in their vaccination plan, conducted mainly through drive-through vaccination facilities.
Overall trust in the healthcare providers tended to be a reason why citizens in some countries opted not to take the various COVID-19 vaccines as in Panama just 27 percent of the respondents trusted the vaccine and in, “Guatemala, 78 per cent of those with no trust in the vaccine also say that they have no trust in health care.”
“The level of mistrust in government authorities and the level of mistrust in the vaccine (safety and efficacy) also appear to be related. This means that, overall, participants who reported high or moderate trust in government leaders to ‘do what is right’, show higher trust in vaccines, the report also said.
The report also said: “It is interesting to note that though 80 per cent of the participants in the survey say that they would agree or have agreed to take the COVID-19 vaccine, their trust in the vaccine differs with only 24 per cent of respondents having high trust in the vaccine and 64 per cent having little to moderate trust.
“This indicates that willingness to take the vaccine is not necessarily related to trust but is rather connected to the situation of the individual if they have decided to remain unvaccinated. In Panama, qualitative data from an assessment on migrants on the move in El Darien, revealed that the reason behind not getting vaccinated is mainly because they don’t want to experience side effects during their journey to Central America. In Trinidad and Tobago, interviews with migrants show that even though they fear vaccines, they are willing to take them to be able to work.”