A survey to find out whether “active” information dissemination leads people to take better protective measures against Covid-19 will be rolled out in three wards of Calcutta in December, said an official of the civic body, one of the organisations involved in the study.

In the first phase (baseline survey) of the three-phase survey, all respondents will be asked a set of questions that will test their knowledge of the disease and the protective measures one should take, said Abhijit Chowdhury, the mentor of Covid Care Network, a voluntary organisation comprising health officials, doctors and those who have recovered from Covid-19.

The network’s volunteers will visit households during the survey.

In the second phase, volunteers will visit the same households and inform residents about the disease, its nature, the protective measures one should take and how to get treatment.

The last phase (endline survey) will again require the respondents to answer the same set of questions asked in the first phase.

“After comparing the replies of the baseline and endline surveys, we will be able to form an idea whether the intervention (in the second phase) helped make people more aware and put them in a position to react better,” said Subrata Roy Chowdhury, a deputy chief municipal health officer of the Calcutta Municipal Corporation.

Apart from the CMC, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and the Liver Foundation, an organisation that focuses on liver diseases and other public health issues, are involved in the study.

Chowdhury, a public health specialist and member of the Liver Foundation, told Metro that the interventions would vary in the three wards. “In one ward, we will give very detailed information. In another, we will provide limited information, and in the third, we will not intervene at all. This will help us observe if there are any significant changes in people’s behaviour when they are informed about the disease and the protective measures against it,” he said.

The survey, to begin in the first or second week of December, will show whether better outcomes are achieved in a population fed with information about the disease and what steps to take if someone tests positive for Covid-19.

Some of the multiple-choice questions to be asked are how the novel coronavirus, which causes Covid-19, spreads; how a Covid test is done; and what steps need to be taken by patients recuperating at home.

A senior scientist of the ICMR said they had authorised the survey, the proposal for which came from the Liver Foundation. “Volunteers of the Covid Care Network will be involved in the survey and intervention. Information dissemination through social media, hoardings, posters, banners and advertisements have a limited effect. They tend to become passive information dissipation tools,” said the scientist.

“If someone who has recovered from a disease goes to a household and shares information about a disease, its impact on people listening is likely to be more. The survey will show whether people become more aware when they are told face to face about the causes of the disease, the steps that can protect them and the facilities for treatment available,” said the scientist.

The survey will be conducted among roughly 4,000 households in each of the three wards — 11 (Hatibagan area in north Calcutta), 82 (Chetla in south Calcutta) and 101 (Patuli in the southeast).

“If it is found that people are giving better replies after the intervention, it can be expected that they will be more careful in their behaviour. This will in turn help prevent or slow down the spread of the virus,” said Roy Chowdhury of the CMC. “Someone with the knowledge that the virus spreads through droplets released during coughing, sneezing or talking is likely to ask people around him or her to wear a mask.”