ASSESSMENT OF THE ROLES OF ICT IN COVID-19 HEALTH EDUCATION

ASSESSMENT OF THE ROLES OF ICT IN COVID-19 HEALTH EDUCATION

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1  BACKGROUND OF STUDY

Pandemics pose entirely different challenges than other disease outbreaks or the vast majority of other natural disasters. Because these diseases affect global populations that have no prior immunological experience with them, their spread is far more rapid and frequently lethal than comparable disease outbreaks. Pandemics, by definition, affect virtually every corner of society almost simultaneously, in contrast to the comparatively contained damage caused by other events. This leaves little room for resiliency and flexible resource reapplication, which aids recovery from more localized disasters.

Furthermore, unlike other types of disasters, pandemics attack not physical infrastructure but the very human infrastructure required to combat them. The longer a disease rages, the more people it kills.

The more it incapacitates vital personnel on the front lines of the response, the weaker societies’ defenses against an inferno that burns hotter the more fuel it consumes. The Covid-19 outbreak is identical to the above description of a pandemic.

Coronavirus (Covid-19) is an infectious disease that causes respiratory infections ranging from a common cold to serious respiratory issues. It began in December 2019 at the Hunan seafood market in Wuhan, China, where live bats, snakes, raccoon dogs, and other wild animals were sold (Shereen et al., 2020, pp. 91-98), and on March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization declared it a pandemic. (WHO, 2020).

The COVID19 outbreak was a worldwide burden as well as a transnational health threat. The deadline is June 15, 2020. The pandemic spread to over 200 countries, infecting over seven million people and causing a global health crisis that resulted in fundamental societal changes. However, the virus is spread through contact with affected people, objects, and surfaces. Information communication technology played a critical role in disseminating relevant information about the nature, causes, and prevention measures of Covid-19, ranging from radio news, television broadcast, news papers, and even the internet, which attracts millions of viewers. Furthermore, many people learn about Covid-19 from internet news sources such as the BBC, CBN Aljezeera.com, Fox News, and many others. These ICT media not only disseminated information about Covid-19, but also educated the public on the necessary precautions to take.

Apply in order to reduce the risk of coming into contact with the virus.

1.2 PROBLEM STATEMENT

In today’s global network society, information networks powered by information and communication technologies (ICTs) underpin social structure and organizational arrangements (Castells, 2000). ICTs, which are broadly defined here to include the internet, platforms, networks, phones, apps, and databases, as well as underlying infrastructure, are a critical component of the current social order, especially during the COVID19 global pandemic. ICTs are important for more than just identifying, tracking, understanding, managing, treating, and perceiving pandemics (Wilson & Jumbert, 2018). Fundamentally, ICTs are our best hope for preserving social order during a pandemic.

The pandemic was unprecedented because the world was completely unaware of such a virus. At the moment of

Following the discovery of the nature of this virus, the world government is faced with the challenge of educating the masses about it, its causes, and preventive measures ranging from social distancing, the use of sanitizers, the cleaning of constantly in contact surfaces, the use of face masks, and a variety of other measures. However, without the assistance of ICT, accomplishing this seemed nearly impossible. On that note, the purpose of this study is to investigate the role of information and communication technology in Covid-19 health education.

1.3 OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY

The primary goal of this research is to evaluate the impact of ICT on Coivid-19 health education. As a result, the following goals were devised to achieve this:

1. Determine whether ICT was the primary source of information about Covid-19.

2. Find out what the

level of ICT used by the general public during the Covid-19 pandemic.

3. Investigate the methods by which people were educated about covid-19 using ICT.

1.4 QUESTION FOR RESEARCH

A. Was ICT the primary source of information used to educate the public about Covid-19?

B. What effect does ICT have on mass health education in Covid-19?

C. What are the ICT-based mediums used to educate individuals about Covid-19?

1.5 THE STUDY’S IMPORTANCE

The findings of this analysis would be extremely beneficial to the government, organizations, and owners in the private sector, as they elaborate on the enormous effective roles and value of ICT as a tool for reaching out to the world at large. Scholars, tutors, lecturers, and others may have different preferences and areas of study or emphasis.

This material will be useful to students as well.

1.6 STUDY OBJECTIVES

Because this study focuses on the role of ICT in Covid-19 health education, it is restricted to private business owners in Orlu, Imo State, Nigeria.

1.7 THE STUDY’S LIMITATIONS

This research project, like all human endeavors, encountered some difficulties that threatened to derail its completion.

One of the reasons is that the researcher did not have enough time to complete the task thoroughly because the time allotted for this work was so limited.

During data collection, the researcher had to work extra hard to understand the interview schedules of the respondents, several of whom were in the incomprehensible age group. There were also financial and transportation constraints to contend with.

1.8 TERM DEFINITION

ICT: Information and communications technology (ICT) is an extensional term for information technology (IT) that emphasizes the role of unified communications and the integration of telecommunications (telephone lines and wireless signals) and computers, as well as the required enterprise software, middleware, storage, and audiovisual, that allow users to access, store, transmit, and manipulate information.

Covid-19 (corona-virus) is a virus that spreads primarily through contact with infectious material (such as respiratory droplets) or infected materials or surfaces. It causes fever, coughing, and shortness of breath, and can lead to pneumonia and respiratory failure.