Papua New Guinea’s COVID cases are driven by misinformation

Here in Western Province in PNG, a stone’s throw from the Australian mainland, things are looking alarming.

Cases and deaths from coronavirus are skyrocketing, and we are facing a misinformation pandemic on top of a COVID one. Most Papua New Guineans get their information from Facebook, and much of it is incorrect.

When walk on the streets, two out of 10 people are wearing masks and no social distancing is practiced. The politicians in Papua New Guinea and the Department of Health have tried their best to use social media to spread facts about COVID-19, but it has not stopped the skepticism and conspiracy theories.

We at Save the Children are preparing to run radio bulletins to inform people of the facts, including sharing an original song about COVID-19. But without action from social media companies, it’s useless.

Social media’s greatest test

For many years, experts have warned about the dangers of unfiltered social media. 

We have seen religious extremists, white supremacists and alt-right groups use misinformation to spread conspiracies and fake news with real and tragic consequences.

But COVID misinformation has the potential to be worse than the damage done by all those groups combined. Without intervention from these social platforms, more people will get sick, and more people will die.

We don’t know how bad things are

The situation in PNG is bad.  We don’t know what the community transmission rates are because many people are not getting tested.

There is a lack of knowledge and awareness of what to do. Some people just don’t care and others are afraid to find out their status. Papua New Guineans are resilient people, but this is something different altogether.

Most kids can’t learn from home

Most students in Papua New Guinea do not have access to home learning materials.

An organisation, Save the Children, is working alongside the National Department of Education to bring physical home learning materials to children in the most vulnerable communities.

Save the Children works in over 1,450 schools across PNG. Grade eight, 10 and 12 have been hit the hardest as they have examinations in October and November this year.

In each of these grades, you must pass an external exam to reach the next level of education. In normal times, around half the students pass the final exams. This year it might be half that again and many students may have to repeat the year.

They are doing their bit, it’s now time for the adults that run some of the biggest social media companies to do something to tackle the pandemic, too.

/ Article by Bernadette Yakopa, the Western Province Area Manager for Save the Children PNG.