Moving towards a well-informed public through empowerment of health journalists in the COVID-19 era in Malawi

Malawi has a population of 17.5 million people, according to the 2018 National Census Report. According to the census report, approximately, 84% of population live in rural Malawi and the rate of illiteracy is at 32%. The advent of social media (WhatsApp and Facebook) has brought about ease in information sharing, but also amplified the speed and reach of false information. Our project aims to ensure that populations in information deserts especially those with low literacy levels can access accurate information that is simple to understand. We believe that journalists are key in bringing this about. We plan to equip health journalist with accurate COVID-19 information that is evidence based and up to date. We also want to ensure that this information is disseminated to the public in a simplified and concise format. Furthermore, we aim to provide platforms where health journalist and the general public can easily access and fact-check information. We aim to achieve this through the following: 1. Training sessions for health journalists 2. Radio programs on facts and myths on COVID-19 3. Modified Science cafe 4. Toll free line 5. Regularly updated Dashboard Expected Outputs 1. Health journalists empowered with knowledge - accurate, current, region specific information on COVID 19 2. COVID-19 Online information source accessible by journalists and the general public 3. COVID-19 knowledge gaps assessed, and COVID-19 accurate information shared 4. Simplified COVID-19 information accessed by low literacy general population 5. COVID-19 Toll-free line installed, and accurate and current COVID-19 information provided to callers