Dealing with infodemic and health mis/dis-information: new public health organizations' proposals
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1
World Health Organization, Switzerland
2
Università Cattolica S. Cuore, Italy
3
Pavol Jozef Safarik University, Slovak Republic
4
Croakey Health Media, Australia
Publication date: 2023-04-27
Popul. Med. 2023;5(Supplement):A648
ABSTRACT
In the last years and mostly during the pandemic, the proliferation of digital channels and news sources including social media has caused an overabundance of information referred to as an infodemic. It involves misinformation (information which is essentially wrong or untrue), and disinformation (information that is created to be misleading or harming). These are harmful as it can undermine compliance with public health measures, and effective mobilisation for the health risks prevention and the management of emergencies contributing to people polarisation on dangerous behaviours and social divisions. The complex problem of health mis/dis-information would require coordinated actions of all concerned stakeholders as citizens, governments, and information platforms, under the expected leadership of Public Health Organizations cooperating at a global level. A joint statement from September 2020 by the WHO, UN agencies and the International Federation of Red Cross calls for action on the infodemic by national governments and social media organisations.[1] [1] The UN describes multiple approaches taken to fight misinformation: dissemination of accurate information, partnering with businesses, working with media and journalists, mobilising civil society as well as supporting free speech.[2] [2] More recently, the WHO also published a policy brief on COVID-19 infodemic management[3] [3]. Further, WFPHA Leadership Coalition is addressing the issue of health misinformation/disinformation developing new strategic approach and tools that are going to be presented in the workshop. Workshop description: This one-hour workshop provides an overview of new Public Health Organizations’ proposals to address the infodemic and health mis/dis-information challenges. The workshop embraces the WHO policy recommendations to train health workers on these issues, to tailor digital literacy initiatives and to develop high-quality, accessible health information. Furthermore, a new toolkit designed by the WFPHA LC is presented in combination with a plan for its dissemination to the WFPH Associations and its implementability appraisal at a global level. The different perspectives of the High- and Middle-Low-Income countries are examined. In addition, the scientific community approaches to the infodemic are shown by EUPHA and its contribution to the field as well. Finally, the strategies and reactions of the digital channels and social media are reported directly by the stakeholders’ experience. The audience can benefit of an inspiring Discussion with the panel of experts. [1] [4] WHO. Managing the COVID-19 infodemic: Promoting healthy behaviours and mitigating the harm from misinformation and disinformation. 2020. https://www.who.int/news/item/23-09-2020-managing-the-covid-19-infodemic-promoting-healthy-behaviours-and-mitigating-the-harm-from- misinformation-and-disinformation. [2] [5] United Nations. 5 ways the UN is fighting ‘infodemic’ of misinformation. 2020. https://www.un.org/en/un-coronavirus-communications-team/five- ways-united-nations-fighting-%E2%80%98infodemic%E2%80%99-misinformation [3] [6] https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/WHO-2019-nCoV-Policy_Brief-Infodemic-2022.1 Links: ------[1] http://events.decorporate.ca/#_ftn1[2] http://events.decorporate.ca/#_ftn2[3] http://events.decorporate.ca/#_ftn3[4] http://events.decorporate.ca/#_ftnref1[5] http://events.decorporate.ca/#_ftnref2[6] http://events.decorporate.ca/#_ftnref3
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Strategies and bottlenecks to tackle infodemic in public health: a scoping review
Andrea Gentili, Leonardo Villani, Tommaso Osti, Valerio Flavio Corona, Angelica Val Gris, Andrea Zaino, Michele Bonacquisti, Lucia De Maio, Vincenzo Solimene, Maria Rosaria Gualano, Carlo Favaretti, Walter Ricciardi, Fidelia Cascini
Frontiers in Public Health