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Lugara Community Factsheet Issue #4, May 2022

Страны
Южный Судан
Источники
Internews
Дата публикации

ABOUT THIS FACTSHEET

This Factsheet is meant for all stakeholders working with the communities like Community Health Workers, Health Care Workers, Outreach Workers, Community Leaders, Religious Leaders, Community Based Associations, and the community. RiT 2.0 Internews in South Sudan periodically collects feedback from the community, shares citizen's concerns on COVID-19 and works to serve communities by collecting rumors and misinformation to understand and address communities’ concerns and information needs to strengthen information ecosystem, the vaccine, and other complex health topics. We respond by increasing the flow of accurate, timely, trusted, and contextualized information between local media, public health and humanitarian agencies, communities and providing recommendations to mitigate the risk associated with misinformation.

WHAT IS A RUMOR?

A rumor is a currently circulating story or report of unverified information collected from firsthand sources within the community which could take the shape of a question, criticism, concern or a general comment on a situation or topic. A rumor can be tricky because it might have some element of truth in it.

WHY RUMORS?

In the absence of information that responds to the concerns and reality of communities rumors thrive and become believable by the communities in which they are circulating. Rumors shape public perception and can be harmful if not countered in a timely and consistent manner. Rumors thrive because of lack of relevant and contextualized information that is rooted in our target communities and can tell us a lot about where the community is at and what they need. Community health workers, local community leaders and associations should provide the community with information as well as recommendations and credible and reliable sources that can help them navigate the risks of misinformation.