A Study on Perception of Managing Infectious Disease through Social Networking in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

The impact of infectious disease on the human population is very dangerous as it could cause severe damage, disruption in human life and can result in many deaths. There is an immediate need for effectively managing the infectious diseases and stop their spreading across other regions. The Infectious Disease management (IDM) process in a country like the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), which is one of the developing countries with wide range of healthcare complications, and being one of the countries with high tourist inflow (hajj tourists) has to be very effective and efficient. Considering these factors, this paper presents the preliminary results of the stage one of the research work intended for developing a web IDM system integrating social networking concept. The study presented in this paper followed a mixed method strategy using survey questionnaires and the interviews as the part of data collection and analysis for assessing the perception of IDM through social networking in KSA. The outcome of the study indicated that most of the young participants supported the idea of using social networking in IDM. Other key outcomes include high level acceptance of using web technology and social networking with mapping strategy for creating awareness among the patients through education and information exchange. within the participation.