Accepted for/Published in: JMIR Formative Research
Date Submitted: Sep 27, 2024
Date Accepted: Apr 7, 2025
Public Health Messaging about Dengue on Facebook in Singapore During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Content Analysis
ABSTRACT
Background:
Dengue, a mosquito-borne disease, has been a health challenge in Singapore for decades. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Singapore encountered a serious dengue outbreak in 2020 and has implemented various communication strategies to raise public awareness and mitigate dengue transmission.
Objective:
Drawing on the Crisis and Emergency Risk Communication (CERC) framework, this study examines how dengue-related message communicated on Facebook during the COVID-19 pandemic fall into the CERC themes. This study also seeks to understand how these themes differ between dengue outbreak (i.e., 2020) and non-outbreak years (i.e., 2021). In addition, we explore how message themes on dengue changed across different CERC phases within the dengue outbreak year (i.e., 2020).
Methods:
We conducted a content analysis on 314 Facebook posts published by public health authorities in Singapore between 1 January 2020 and 30 September 2022. We conducted chi-square tests to examine the differences in message themes between the dengue outbreaks and non-outbreak years. We also conducted chi-square tests to examine how these message themes varied across three CERC phases during the dengue outbreak year (i.e., 2020).
Results:
Our findings suggested that amidst the dual epidemics of dengue and COVID-19, Singapore’s public health communication on dengue largely adhered to CERC principles. Dengue-related messaging, particularly regarding intelligence and request for contributions, significantly varied between outbreak and non-outbreak years. Additionally, messages on general advisories and vigilance, as well as those on social and common responsibility, significantly differed across the CERC phases during the dengue outbreak year.
Conclusions:
Singapore’s public health authorities flexibly adjusted their messaging strategies on social media platforms in response to the evolving dengue situation during the COVID-19 pandemic, demonstrating the high adaptability of the government’s health communication amid the dual epidemics. However, several areas for improvement should also be noted for future public health communication to mitigate dengue transmission.
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