In the past few years, misinformation and rumors have proven to be a major obstacle towards increasing COVID-19 vaccination rates, driving vaccine hesitancy among Lao people.
As such, social listening is a powerful tool to help understand concerns about vaccines, limit the spread of fake news, and improve the way health authorities communicate to the public.
In February 2023, a social listening-focused nationwide training programme was organized for central and provincial health authorities, media and mass media to enable them to better tackle misinformation around COVID-19, vaccination and other health challenges. Attended by representatives from all provinces, it was conducted in three locations: Savannakhet, Vang Vieng and Xieng Khouang.
“Social listening means we better hear people’s voices. As we address vaccine hesitancy, and other health challenges, this is more critical than ever before. It means we communicate better and more responsively, and better support people’s needs and concerns,” said Mr Visith Khamlusa, Director of Center of Communication and Education for Health (CCEH), Ministry of Health.
The workshop covered online and offline techniques for social listening, the practice of evaluating public attitudes to understand trends and conversation around a certain topic, new approaches to design effective communications content, and simulation exercises to identify public opinion and address false news. A new dashboard system for social listening was also introduced as an advanced tool for social listening that will make gathering online opinions more efficient.
Mr. Kaevang Xaytam, Xaysomboun Provincial Department of Health commented after the training: “Since the outbreak of the COVID-19, Xaysomboun province has practiced social listening but in limited forms.”
“Taking part in this workshop has helped me deepened my understanding of what social listening truly is. I will use the lessons learned during the workshop to help my province better plan our activities for 2023, especially to build trust in vaccines.”
The trainings are implemented jointly by CCEH, UNICEF and WHO. Support for WHO was provided by the European Union, as part of wider collaboration between the EU and WHO to support health in Lao PDR and tackle COVID-19, including support for laboratories and disease surveillance, health emergency response, improvements in clinical management, infection prevention and control, improving water, sanitation and hygiene, and logistics strengthening.
UNICEF was supported by the Australian Aid and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The World Bank supported the delivery of the workshops.