IMPROVING pandemic response requires investments in knowledge management, which experts from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) believe was the secret behind the success of countries like South Korea and Vietnam.
This, according to an Asian Development Blog authored by ADB Advisor and Chief of Knowledge Advisory Services Center Susann Roth; Senior Knowledge Sharing and Services Officer Mary Jane F. Carangal-San Jose; and Senior Operations Coordination Specialist Vivek Raman.
The authors said knowledge management is the “systematic generation and sharing of information.” It combines, facilitates and connects expertise to solve problems.
“The pandemic showed us that an organization is only as effective and a country and its people only as prepared as the knowledge they harness and share,” the
authors said.
“A combination of culture, systems, and process change was needed for knowledge management to help address the pandemic and the same is needed to solve complex development challenges over the long term,” they added.
Philippine Association of Communication and Media Research Inc. (PACMRI) President Fernando D. Paragas agreed with the authors and said knowledge management can help countries like the Philippines improve its pandemic response.
“I agree that knowledge management is key to effective pandemic response to ensure that all decisions are informed by the rigorous analysis of sound data. Otherwise, the communicated policy may appear whimsical, rather than data driven,” Paragas said in an e-mail.
He said the Philippine government can improve its communication efforts during the pandemic by ensuring the availability of support mechanisms. Paragas said the government should have the programs, projects and services ready for the public when information about them are disseminated.
Paragas, also a University of the Philippines Communication Research Professor, said improving the timing of communication is also important. This means communication should be early enough and must be disseminated at the “most opportune time” for the public to act accordingly.
Further, he said, the government should improve the quality of communication in terms of clarity, completeness, and consistency of the message and its delivery.
“Messages must be readily understandable across the diverse segments of Philippine society. These must also anticipate and address potential questions to prevent information gaps that may be potentially filled in by misinformation and disinformation,” Paragas said.
“Messages must also not contradict each other so as not to confuse the public. Time and space must not be devoted to extraneous messages, or those which are immaterial to the pandemic,” he added.
Paragas said, however, the government was effective in its communication efforts primarily because of Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire whom he described as “exemplary in her even-tempered, authoritative, personable, and professional delivery.”
He added that while the government rolled out its BIDA Solusyon sa Covid-19 campaign, this came in late and the messaging did not adapt to the “changing nature of the pandemic.”
For one, the government had already rolled out its vaccination program. Paragas said the government should now address vaccine hesitancy along with the BIDA messages of mask wearing, hand sanitation, physical distancing, and information seeking.
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