CHAPTER ONE

INRODUCTION

1.0 Background to the study

Corona virus is a type of virus which like any other virus results in an illness that has a cause, prevention and a proposed solution. There are different kinds of diseases and all these diseases have causes. The corona virus identified in 2019, SARS-CoV-2, has caused a pandemic of respiratory Illness, called COVID-19. As of now, researchers have revealed that the corona virus is spread through droplets and virus particles released into the air when an infected person breathes, talks, laughs, sings coughs or sneezes. Larger droplets may fall to the ground but tiny infectious particles can linger in the air and accumulate in the indoor places, where many people are gathered and there is poor ventilation (Hopkins, 2022).

The European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (2020) reports that a cluster of pneumonia cases of unknown etiology was reported by the Wuhan Municipal Health Commission in the City of Wuhan, Hubei province, China. These cases had a common link which was a wholesale market that was centered on different animal species. Analysis by the system showed that the newly-identified virus is related to the SARS-CoV-2. The corona virus was detected as the causative agent on January 9, 2020, following reports by the CDC in China. Systems meant for detection were developed and made available for the Member States through the World Health Organization and the European Virus Archive global catalogue. The original source of the outbreak of this deadly disease had not been known as of 20 January 2020 but about 295 laboratory cases were confirmed infected with 2019-nCoV. Out of this number, 291 were from Wuhan, China, and Thailand (2), Japan (1), South Korea (1) which were travel associated cases. The health authorities in China confirmed human to human transmission as 4 deaths had already been recorded and about 15 health workers infected.

On the 30^th of January 2020, the WHO declared the rapid spread of the COVID-19 as a public health emergency of international concern and on the 11^th of February, same year, the pandemic got an official name, COVID-19. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) confirmed the first person to have died of covid19 in the country nine days later. The individual lived in Washington DC and was a man in his fifties. Global health authorities, government agencies and the public were unsure of the rate at which the disease would spread and how it would impact human life. These were the worries during the first months of the disease. The United Nations gave out over $15 million in funds to support the global covid 19 response. This was done on the 1^st of March, 2020. Covid 19 rapidly transformed to being a global health emergency almost overnight. Cases of covid 19 reached 100000 on the 7^th of March, 2020, and was declared a pandemic by the WHO on the 11^th of March 2020. Following the introduction of unprecedented measures to contain the virus, the situation in Wuhan, China had been diffused. On March 13^th, the WHO declared Europe as the epicenter of the pandemic because of the rapid rise of cases day by day. To tackle the pandemic, strict measures were put in place around the world. Social distancing, travel restrictions and hand washing techniques came into force in March 2020. Scientists understood that these measures put in place could only slow down the spread of the disease and that a vaccine needed to be developed. As a result, the first vaccine trials began with Moderna Mrna vaccine. The impending danger of the pandemic came into light when the number of cases went up to 1million by the 2^nd of April and on the 6^th of April, the government of most countries adopted the wearing of masks, as more evidence began to highlight the role of aerosols in the spread of the disease.(Hopkins,2022)

As time passed by and the measures adopted and respected, many countries saw a change in the pandemic. There was the drop in cases, hospitalizations, and deaths due to the restrictions citizens had endured to prevent the spread of the virus. In August 2020, towards the end of summer, the Lamba variant was first discovered in Peru. In September 2020, the Alpha Variant was first identified in the UK and the discovery of this variant showed that the virus was evolving, more people were getting sick and others were dying. Symptoms of the disease were changing. With the emergence of these two variants, cases of covid 19 began to rise again in many countries and by September 2020, there had been about 1 million COVID-19 deaths. The disease showed itself in several ways. While some people infected with the virus had mild illnesses, others had no symptoms at all. And in some cases, COVID-19 can led to respiratory failure, lasting lung and heart muscle damage, nervous system problems, kidney failure and death (Hopkins, 2022).

As it unfolded, Cameroon had one of the highest numbers of confirmed cases in sub Saharan Africa with approximately 6,143 cases confirmed and 197 deaths (Start Network, 2020). Since many of the country’s refugee camps were largely excluded from the government resource plan due to limited resources, the outbreak posed many challenges. In order to take the information on COVID-19 to the wildest population, the local media come up with programs done in indigenous languages so no one should be left out on the information on the virus.

The Ontario Hospital Association brought to light what the world has come up with, as regards to effective communication strategies for covid-19. Firstly, there have to be trust and credibility which involves being consistent in messaging, the use of simple messages, correcting misinformation, the act of avoiding over reassurance, avoid fostering unrealistic expectations and avoid drawing too much attention to misinformation.  There is the act of empathy which involves acknowledging concerns, hardship and express understanding, expression of gratitude and to avoid shaming and blaming people and organizations for every negative outcome. Autonomy and empowerment is very important as it has to do with the act of giving choices within a set of guidelines or principles, giving people things to do, the provision of specific descriptions of desired behaviors, avoid being paternalistic and overly authoritarian and to avoid implying that the facts are too difficult to understand. Lastly, values, emotions and stories which are focused on messages of solidarity, kindness and love, the Appeal to ‘collective’ good, linking behaviors to peoples’ identity, the respect of cultural belief and to avoid appealing to fear. No sector in Cameroon has been spared the horrors of COVID-19 (corona virus). In June 2020, the data from the national statistical institute study gave an idea of the impact of the pandemic on the national economy. The pandemic has affected about 93% of companies and 60% of households negatively (Okalia, 2021).

The pandemic in January 2021 was declared a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC). In several countries worldwide, the number of cases has increased drastically and measures have been taken to reduce its spread. Cameroon, after confirming her fist cases launched the Incident Management System (IMS) which involved several measures to reduce and if possible stop the spread. Travel and economic activities were restricted (e.g. closing of work places and schools, banning gathering of more than ten people, limiting travels). Protective measures were also observed such as social distancing, hand washing, wearing face masks, encouraging people to own hand sanitizers, etc. To enable rapid diagnosis and treatment of covid19, a special allocation account for the national solidarity fund was created by the president of the republic with an initial allocation of one billion CFA Francs. This was meant to provide financial support to the special national solidarity fund for the fight against corona virus and its consequences. This fund has four structured programs health system strengthening, strengthening research and innovation, economic and financial reliance, social reliance and strategic purchasing).  The limit of resources was set at 180 billion for the 2020 financial year by the national assembly. CAS had two major purposes: to support the special national solidarity fund for the fight against corona virus, its economic and social consequences and to facilitate better monitoring of the use of the use of resources mobilized in the response’s framework, as well as fulfill transparency and accountability requirements. The Cameroon government awarded special contracts to purchase equipment and consumables and the provision of services, which excluded covic19 contacts from all public procurement procedures.  There had also been a review of implementation instruments for specific health financing schemes and payment methods for service providers (SPARC Africa, 2021)

1.1 Statement of problem

The world has experienced different kinds of crisis. Covid 19 came as something new and a thorn to peoples flesh.  It wasn’t expected and people did not prepare for something as deadly as the virus. Places were shut down and precaution measures put in place. In Cameroon, methods were adopted like the wearing of facemask, the respect of about one-meter social distance, the use of hand sanitizers and sensitization. These were some of the measures put in place by the government.  The media however came up with the strategies of eradicating the virus from our country.

CRTV Bamenda like any other medium of communication was actively involved in the sensitization of the public at the outbreak of the novel Corona virus. To achieve this, they employed a number of strategies to make sure that the messages on the causes, prevention, management of the virus gets to the public. The media has made use of measures like campaigns, the production of special programs, interview with guests and spots on radio. The researcher therefore seeks to examine the strategies used by CRTV in sensitizing the public during the outbreak of the novel corona virus and the effectiveness of such strategies.

Given that it is a pandemic and the media had to come in to diffuse information that could curse its speed, the media had to adopt various strategies given the diverse and vast nature of the population. this study seek to find out the numerous strategies put in place by the media to fight against Covid 19 and if these strategies were effective or had any impact on the population.

1.2 Research questions

This research is guided by the following research questions

Main research question

1. What were the strategies adopted by CRTV Bamenda to sensitize the population against the Corona virus.

Specific research questions

2. What were the persuasive strategies adopted by CRTV to fight against the Covid 19?
3. What were the challenges faced by CRTV Bamenda in implementing these strategies?

1.3 Research objectives

1. To find out the strategies adopted by CRTV Bamenda to sensitize the population against the Corona Virus.
2. To examine the persuasive strategies adopted by CRTV to fight against Covid 19

To discover the challenges faced by CRTV in implementing these strategies