Exploring Social Media Use during a Public Health Emergency in Africa: The COVID-19 Pandemic

The increased application of information technology (IT) during public health epidemics and other crises has been noted recently. Particularly, the adoption of social media in the fight against public health catastrophes in Sub-Saharan Africa has attracted researchers' interest. Prior studies indicate that social media platforms provide a real-time medium to facilitate two-way communication between governments as well as various agencies and citizens. In the event of such epidemics as COVID-19, social media's acceptance in the health sector is invaluable in predicting epidemic development and transmission disseminating information, and facilitating discussions. Despite its crucial role, the use of social media in the healthcare is lagging behind other sectors. In response to the call for further studies and to address the gap in the literature, this study examines the factors affecting the adoption of social media and their impact on managing health epidemics in Sub-Saharan Africa.