Why the dissemination of health information via government intervention is enhanced by a Culture-Centered Approach

In a post-COVID-19 world, reflecting on the relative success of governments’ involvement in shaping perceptions during global pandemics, the question of effective intervention is at play. COVID-19 has exposed the way in which many governments have failed through their messaging to bring coherent and trustworthy health policy. Many Western populations’ rejection of top-down guidelines regarding the spread of disease was fueled by a lack of trust; an issue that has been the norm in much of the developing world. Conflicting responses by several governments in several Sub-Saharan African countries regarding the HIV/AIDS pandemic (beginning in the early 1980s) should have provided lessons about trust and inclusion in government messaging during global pandemics. This article provides an analysis of the crucial role that governments play in fostering trust and shaping perceptions during global pandemics. I argue that this is an idiosyncratic type of government intervention, where the dissemination of information, resource allocation, and required health measures do not suffice as stand-alone solutions. I employ the Culture-Centered Approach (CCA) framework, which highlights the importance of culture and trust when measures to shape behaviors and beliefs are being formed and implemented. I apply a comparative case study analysis of the public responses to the HIV/AIDS pandemic in Uganda and South Africa to argue that, without governments across the globe accounting for the cultural context at play with respect to their citizens, public health messaging and interventions will be less effective.