%0 Report
        %A Chowdhury, Shyamal
%A Schildberg-Hörisch, Hannah
%A Schneider, Sebastian O.
%A Sutter, Matthias
        %T Information Provision over the Phone Saves Lives: An RCT to Contain COVID-19 in Rural Bangladesh at the Pandemic's Onset
        %D 2022
        %8 2022 Nov
        %I Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)
        %C Bonn
        %7 IZA Discussion Paper
        %N 15768
        %U https://www.iza.org/index.php/publications/dp15768
        %X Lack of information about COVID-19 and its spread may have contributed to excess mortality at the pandemic's onset. In April and May 2020, we implemented a randomized controlled trial with more than 3,000 households in 150 Bangladeshi villages. Our one-to-one information campaign via phone stressed the importance of social distancing and hygiene measures, and illustrated the consequences of an exponential spread of COVID-19. We find that information provision improves knowledge about COVID-19 and induces significant behavioral changes. Information provision also yields considerably better health outcomes, most importantly by reducing the number of reported deaths by about 50% in treated villages.
        %K field experiment
%K COVID-19
%K information intervention
%K death rates