Challenges in achieving accessibility on official COVID-19 websites

Abstract

During the COVID-19 pandemic, powerful health promotion messages and reliable communication from local, regional, or worldwide health authorities stumbled. The World Health Organization (WHO) pointed this problem out, issuing the message “health for all,” incentivizing health leaders to use ac-accessible and inclusive technologies, plain language, and diverse content to increase accessibility. This article presents the accessibility evaluation of a random sample of 21 websites from various health ministries and government agencies worldwide. We found that most of the websites tested did not meet the minimum AA accessibility level set by WCAG 2.1. Moreover, indicate that 29.9% violate the perceivable principle related to contrast errors. Our research reveals that web designers and developers should be aware of accessibility requirements and guidelines to comply with universal access during web designing.