Public Perceptions towards COVID-19 and Prevention Measures in Uganda: Gaps and Missed Opportunities

ABSTRACT :Introduction:Communication of COVID-19 prevention measures is essential for effective control andmanagement of the pandemic. For Uganda following the presidential directives, the COVID-19 lockdownmeasures came into effect on March 18, 2020. A top-bottom approach was adopted. The approach puts publicperceptions at risk of affecting the receptiveness of the well-intended measures to control the pandemic spread.This paper provides preliminary findings about public perception of COVID-19 communication approach, gapsand missed opportunities.Methods: The survey was informed by 329 online comments and 13 individual interviews from Uganda. Thetrending comments on the blogs and individual interviews considered three topical discussion points: donationsgiven to the COVID-19 emergency team (110 comments), perceptions of COVID-19 lockdown directives (195comments) and public outcomes of COVID-19 lockdown measures (24 comments). The individual interviewswere conducted at Ishaka Health Plan, a micro health insurance scheme in southwest Uganda. Data wasdeductively analyzed based on three themes: COVID-19 cause of transmission, relevance of preventivemeasures and effects of the announced preventive measures