Risk communication, ethics and academic integrity in the process of minimizing the impacts of the covid-19 crisis in Ethiopian higher education

Figures & data

Figure 1. WHO continuum of risk communication (adopted from WHO)

Figure 2. Risk communication hierarchical position of HEI during COVID-19 in the task force ⁽MoSHE, 2020⁾

Figure 3. Risk communication of MoSHE task force during COVID-19 ⁽MoSHE, 2020⁾

Table 1. COVID-19 minimum research articles and their respective findings (March 2020 to June 2021)

Research focus	Populations	Major findings
KAPs, perspective response evidence& hypothesis, hospital and community pharmacists, precautionary behavioral practice, workforce & residence training, psychological problem & associated factors, Immunoglobulin G2 Antibody, clinical profile, Chloroquine and Hydroxychloroquine use, clinical challenges & silver lining, preparedness & response, medical patients, predictors & prev. healthcare service & patient satisfaction, risk exposure, Glycopeptides, predictors of C19 deaths, perceived barriers & preventive measures, anxiety disorder, information exposure &influencing factors, sanitizer, personal preventive measures, risk communication & community engagement.	university students, medical visitors, hospital patients, health workers, city dwellers, high-risk age groups, employees, police health facilities, clerks & traditional healers, quarantine adults, risk management workers, intervention, deaths, city community, waiters, hospitals, street marketing	(1) Knowledge, practices were not sufficient on the spreading virus; (2) >1/3 of the participants had poor magnitude of knowledge, attitude, and precautionary measures; (3) HWs awareness on the clinical and epidemiological spectrum of COVID-19 was promising; (4) Prevalence of poor knowledge & practice was high; (5) Knowledge of elders on the disease was roughly appropriate; the preventive practices and attitude were found less & inappropriate.(6) Adults with chronic conditions were intending to practice & had ever practiced personal preventive measures; (7) Critical cases significantly & positively affected the deaths from this pandemic disease; (8) Review describes the importance of targeting IgG2, with IFN-γ in minimizing the SARS-CoV-2 associated inflammation; (9) Most HWs had good knowledge; had lower prevention practice of COVID-19; (10) > 1/2 healthcare providers were perceived stress on COVID-19; (11) Higher prevalence of depression, anxiety, & stress among university students; (12) Who had media & health workers (HWs) as their information sources had better knowledge of COVID-19 & its prevention; (13) (13) Preventive measures taken by healthcare providers were poor. Barriers: insufficient training, limitation of resources, & less commitment of healthcare providers to infection prevention measures were reported; (14) Moderate knowledge about transmission modes & prevention mechanisms in Addis Ababa; (15) 1/3 of the study participants had poor knowledge regarding COVID-19. Male gender, age above thirty-five years, lack of formal education, being a farmer, daily laborer, merchant, and housewife was significantly associated with poor knowledge; (16) Access to essential personal protective equipment during the COVID-19 pandemic was limited. The poor perception of healthcare workers about not having enough support from medical institutions & public health authorities; (17) Comprehensive impacts of prevention, intensive medical care & surface disinfection strategies outperform in reducing the disease epidemic with optimum implementation cost; (18) Products without labels available for sale in the streets (19) The proportion of employees with poor COVID-19 prevention was high; (20) The level of knowledge and attitude towards face mask utilization was relatively low & the level of proper face mask utilization was quite low in comparison with some studies. (21) It is difficult to conclude that a novel coronavirus has been biologically related to psychosis or exacerbates psychotic symptoms; (22) The prevalence of poor knowledge about COVID-19 was low; (23) Feasible adaptive approaches to maintaining residency training.

Source: ⁽Aylie et al., 2020; Bahrey et al., 2020; Demsie et al., 2020; Deriba et al., 2020; Gabore, 2020; Gebrie et al., 2020; Girma et al., 2020; Haftom et al., 2020; Hajure et al., 2020; Kassa et al., 2020; Kassaw, 2020; Kebede et al., 2020; Abate & Mekonnen, 2020; Abebe et al., 2020; Adhena & Hidru, 2020; Alemu, 2020; Andarge et al., 2020; Andualem et al., 2020; Assefa et al., 2020; Mamo et al., 2020; Mulu et al., 2020; Obsu & Balcha, 2020; Selam et al., 2020; Selam, 2020; Shigute et al., 2020; Tariku & Hajure, 2020; Tesfaye et al., 2020; Tiruneh, 2020; Tolu, Ezeh et al., 2020; Asemahegn, 2020; Asnakew et al., 2020;Tolu, Feyissa et al., 2020; Wake, 2020; Wang & Wang, 2020; WHO, 2008, 2020; Wolka et al., n.d.; Wondimu & Girma, 2020; Zikargae, 2020⁾

Table 2. SWOT analysis of Ethiopian higher education risk communication strategies

Strengths: Rapid response, campus shutdown, absence of face-to-face communication; early awareness creation on preventions; volunteer training on preventions; evaluating the activities of COVID-19 preventions; establishing the task forces at the university level; establishing volunteers for COVID-19 preventions; research proposal development on COVID-19; establishing hand wash facilities; production of sanitizers, face masks; facilitating ICT based virtual and e-learning platforms; establishing exclusive diagnostic testing laboratories; & health care campaigns on social media, mass media; external research collaboration; University COVID-19 information centers; UV apparatus development, and mechanical ventilator; software applications developed to facilitate risk communication; humanitarian support to the neighbor communities; virtual postgraduate graduation (Masters, Ph.D.); & Promoting academic staff;

Opportunities: Created a room for innovation and dissemination; budget allocation for research on COVID-19 & related matters; media and digital skills of instructors; researchers, leaders in the context of COVID-19; availability of Internet except for two-week lockdown; COVID-19 task force level participation; Internet infrastructures; idle human resources to mobilize on COVID-prevention health cares; the innovation of local UV apparatus and mechanical ventilator development funds; increasing humanitarian support; time as a resource to do different activities; awareness creation opportunities; scaling up efforts to fight COVID-19; promoting sports activities on campus; promoting physical exercises; low level of teaching staff load; availability of resources(online) and time; and production and economic activities to continue during the crisis; research calls on COVID-19, and the publication calls on COVID-19.

Weaknesses: Weak clinical research outputs; most Ethiopian higher education research is focused on KAP (80%); unable to transact eLearning at undergraduate levels; Inadequate infrastructure on the student’s side where most students come from 80% of the rural population are living; unequal accessibility of teaching materials; lack of students’ motivation to participate in eLearning; and poor technological manipulation skills (poor acculturation of eLearning)

Threats: Internet outage during COVID-19 due to conflicts in Addis Ababa and Oromiya region; eLearning and digital communication; depression due to the lockdown during COVID-19; fear of the state of emergency; social gatherings and movements are restricted; academic life disturbed due to a call at staying home; security, protection of COVID-19; lack of using consistent face mask; weak application and follow up of state of emergency; conflicts in some part of Ethiopia prevailed shock waves of anger, resentment, and frustration throughout Ethiopia; and an increasing number of COVID-19 cases and deaths could be a future threat to Ethiopian higher education.

Table 3. PEST analysis that enhance and limit the universities response to the pandemic crisis

Political	Economic	Social	Technological
Law enforcement war between Ethiopian army & TPLF armed group	Financial shortage collaborations & partnership schemes weaken; Economic shock due to war, conflict, locust invasion & drought	The pandemic,COVID-19	Internet infrastructure not well established
Prolonged ethnic conflict in Oromiya regional state; prolonged ethnic conflict in Southern Nations Nationality People(eg Konso)		Limited humanitarian assistance	Electricity disruptions
			Disruption of the Internet during conflict in Oromiya regional state
Prolonged& non stoppable ethnic conflicts in Amhara and in Benishangul Gumuz region & its boarder, mass killings; movements of armed groups in different parts of the country: Gambella, Benshangul Gumuz, Oromiya, Southern Nations & Nationalities regional state, mass killings; fragile political situations in Ethiopia	Note: As we learned from previous academic years, the political situation could cause future instability for students. Ethnic conflicts totally disrupted students’ campus life. Some universities were closed for several weeks. Students were found to have a death toll on some campuses (eg. The University of Gondar, Woldia University, Wollo University). Unrest in Ethiopian universities forced 35,000 students to quit class in 2019.

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