Visual Public Health Communication Strategies: A Case of The Saudi Ministry of Health During The COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

This study investigates the visual public health communication strategies employed by the Saudi Ministry of Health (MoH) during the COVID-19 pandemic, focusing on how cultural elements such as traditional Saudi values and collective cultural norms influenced the interpretation of visual messaging. It also examines the impact of Saudi Arabia’s broader national development Vision 2030 on these visual communications. This study explores how the MoH’s strategies not only addressed the immediate health crisis but also conveyed cultural and political messages. It analyses how visual representations of COVID 19 messages reflected and interacted with prevailing cultural norms and ideological perspectives. The study relies on two main data sources: content from the official Twitter account of the Saudi MoH, and semi-structured interviews with key MoH personnel, including decision-makers, elites, and designers. A qualitative research methodology was adopted. The multimodal social-semiotic (MSS) approach was applied to the visual Twitter content, while thematic analysis was used for the interview data. The dataset comprised nine visual Twitter posts and interviews with 20 Ministry of Health participants. Findings reveal that the MoH used visual communication not only for public health messaging but also to promote sociocultural values such as tradition, social responsibility, and community cohesion supporting Saudi Arabia’s collectivist cultural framework. Political figures were prominently featured as “role models” visually reinforcing hierarchical state authority and limiting the emphasis on participatory public engagement. Additionally, the study uncovers the strategic use of imagery associated with modernisation and social reform, particularly gender representation and women’s empowerment, reflecting alignment with Vision 2030’s goals for national transformation. The study concludes that sociocultural visual elements were deliberately employed during the pandemic to advance both health awareness and broader national agendas, contributing to an understanding of visual public health communication in a sociocultural context.