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MHPSS hotlines, and superiors from each unit at all healthcare facilities
were required to monitor their staff. As of 30th November 2020, 15,608
HCWs in Sabah had received PFA support .
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5.2.5 Risk Communication in Sabah and Sarawak

In the event of a social crisis, crisis management is usually designed to help
people resist their emotions and act wisely despite being in difficult
situations. As Sabah and Sarawak's population are vastly diverse, comprising
various races and ethnic groups, understanding the differences in the
cultural practices and beliefs is vital in the development of successful risk
communication practices. The state governments always ensured the
public's messages were brief, compact, and easy to comprehend. The
Sarawak state government, on the other hand, took the extra step by
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delivering messages in numerous languages (including local dialects) to
facilitate the public awareness towards strengthening the practice of good
health behaviour such as physical distancing, washing hands frequently with
water and soap, cough and sneeze etiquette as well as the wearing of masks
in public areas or when having symptoms. This was important as different
cultures ascribed different meanings to diseases, and biomedical
explanations of diseases were sometimes not universally accepted.
The social media platform was the most useful, cheapest, and popular way
of engaging with the public during these IT-savvy days. It was a fast and
comprehensive medium suitable for the situation faced during this
pandemic, especially with direct interpersonal communication with the
public being difficult to perform. Messages were either in the form of
infographics, announcements, or videos, or through the state official
channels such as Facebook, website, or Telegram. While social media was
at present the most popularly used platform, conventional media such as
mass media and newspapers were still broadly used to engage in risk
communication with the public during the COVID-19 pandemic. In fact, the
collaboration and cooperation provided by the Department of Broadcasting,
Malaysia (RTM) were beneficial as it could cover the whole nation,
especially the remote areas in Sabah and Sarawak, where access to the
internet or private TV channels was difficult. Apart from Malay and English
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versions, RTM radio stations in Sarawak also covered other local dialects .
Hence, messages could be more easily and efficiently delivered to the
diverse public, especially the lower education population.

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