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Infodemic Management News Flash
Thursday 8 July 2021 | Issue #17
Feature Artwork
A fork in the road.
An image can tell a story without words. For many of us, even without any additional context, it is clear this image is referring to the COVID-19 pandemic, and it is clear which path we would rather be on.
This is one of the images from the AHRC funded Comics in the Times of COVID-19 series. A recent Public Health, Communication and Healthcare Knowledge Exchange Workshop run by Pandemic and Beyond Project brought people together to share knowledge and ideas about health communication and messaging, including the use of visual communication.
Information that includes images is more likely to be shared and can help communicate across language and literacy barriers. In an infodemic, where people are being presented with an overabundance of information, using comics or images can help reach people with important public health information.
Read more about the work.
Image by Alexandra Alberda
Feature Content
The 2nd WHO Infodemic Management Training is Complete!
WHO was proud to partner again with US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to deliver the training. US CDC co-chaired the training, providing technical expertise, facilitation and training support. WHO was delighted to also welcome the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) and UNICEF as training partners.
For this second cohort, the team received over 700 applications from 114 countries. A total of 254 people were selected for the training which was offered in both English and French. WHO convened technical mentors from 30 organizations around the globe to host live SkillsLabs for the trainees to do problem-based learning in real-time, and for pre-recorded master classes to enable them to develop new skills at their own pace.
Trainees developed social listening reports for their region trialing the WHO EARS tool for identifying changing questions and concerns about COVID-19. This approach generates infodemic insights that can be translated into recommendations for action for a more community-sensitive and collaborative public health response.
The training was very well received with 98% of respondents saying they would recommend it to other experts. Due to the overwhelming response and continued need for trained infodemic managers, the team is already looking towards the next training. Keep reading the News Flash for announcements.
Congratulations to the 2nd cohort of trained Infodemic Managers, we can’t wait to see what you do with your new skills!
Read more about the training
Big Data & Society: Special Theme Issue on Studying the COVID-19 Infodemic at Scale
The special theme issue of 'Studying the COVID-19 Infodemic at Scale' builds on a successful series of public events and consultations organized by the World Health Organization (WHO) Information Network for Epidemics (EPI-WIN) Infodemic Management team. This includes the first technical consultation on responding to the infodemic related to the COVID-19 pandemic held on April 7-8 of 2020, and the first WHO Infodemiology Conference and working group meetings held in June-July of 2020.
The special issue was guest edited by:
- Dr. Anatoliy Gruzd (Ryerson University)
- Dr. Manlio De Domenico (Center for Information Technology of Fondazione Bruno Kessler)
- Prof. Pier Luigi Sacco (IULM University)
- Dr. Sylvie Briand (World Health Organization)
The issue highlights research from a wide range of methodological perspectives. Papers cross disciplinary boundaries and expand our understanding of current and future trends in big data-driven research on infodemiology,
especially in the context of studying the COVID-19 infodemic and its impact on society.
Access the special issue including all the papers
EPI-WIN Recognised for Work During COVID-19 Pandemic
At the Seventy-Fourth World Health Assembly, the Independent Oversight and Advisory Committee (IAOC) recognised and congratulated the WHO Health Emergencies Programme on establishing WHO’s information network for epidemics (EPI-WIN) for COVID-19. The network provides information and issues updates as epidemics unfold, debunking myths that emerge on social media and other sources, which can hamper an effective response by spreading confusion and distrust. This network leverages existing networks and disseminates information across various sectors to ensure better access to credible health information and better health for all. The IOAC expressed it was pleased to see infodemic management and
risk communication embedded in the current Incident Management System as a core pillar.
Pledge to Pause
Launched in October last year, the UN's Pledge to Pause campaign has been widely shared over social media channels recently as people were encouraged to use Social Media Day on June 30th to #PledgetoPause. The campaign aims to address misinformation being shared on social media by challenging people to pause and think before sharing content online.
Read more about the launch
Visit the pledge to pause website
Opportunities for Action
African Academy of Sciences | Call for Expressions of Interest
The African Academy of Sciences is calling for expressions of interest for the The African Research Initiative for Scientific Excellence Pilot Programme (ARISE-PP) Grant. Grants are open to African researchers from all fields of research. This may be a good opportunity for infodemic research projects that contribute to the WHO public health research agenda for managing infodemics.
Access the funding call details here.
COVID-19 Risk Communication and Community Engagement (RCCE) in Africa | Call for Proposals
The Africa CDC, African Union and Mastercard Foundation are inviting proposals to support African Union member states in designing, implementing, monitoring and evaluating risk communication and community engagement activities for the COVID-19 vaccination rollout. Submission deadline is 30 July 2021.
Access the details
Global Reporting Initiative on Vaccines and Immunization: Applications Open
The International Women’s Media Foundation (IWMF) is inviting applications for the 'Global Reporting Initiative: Vaccines and Immunization in Africa and Latin America and the Caribbean'.
The IWMF will select a total of 30 journalists to participate in the Initiative this year. The cohort will participate in a virtual course that will increase access to global and regional experts, trusted sources and evidence-based information on vaccines and immunization. Applications close 22nd July 2021.
Find out more
JMIR Announces New Journal of Infodemiology
JMIR Publications recently announced the launch of JMIR Infodemiology, a new interdisciplinary journal devoted solely to the topic of Infodemiology.
The journal will focus on determinants and distribution of health information and misinformation on the Internet, and its effect on public and individual health. The journal is now accepting submissions.
Read more about the journal and subscribe for updates.
ISIF Asia Call For 2021 Grant Proposals
The Information Society Innovation Fund (ISIF Asia) is dedicated to empowering organizations that research, design and implement technical solutions that support Internet development and facilitate human and economic development in the Asia Pacific region, with a focus on Inclusion, Infrastructure and Knowledge from a technical and operational perspective.
- Inclusion - Efforts to ensure everyone has meaningful and effective access to the Internet.
- Infrastructure - Efforts to increase Internet speed, improve reliability and security.
- Knowledge - Efforts to develop technical capacity and / or research around Internet operations.
Multimedia
Watch Fresh Emir performing the theme song "Jita Jita" for the Community Initiatives to Promote Peace (CIPP) project, Social Media Campaign for Peace. This video was made in collaboration with Mercy Corps Peace and Conflict team in Nigeria, with thanks to Nicole Grable, graduate from WHO’s 1st Global Infodemic Manager Training!
Please send us any other multimedia efforts that show how to get infodemic messaging into popular culture and help encourage a whole-of-society approach.
Job Opportunities
- WHO: Infodemic Management: Project Manager and Technical Lead (Remote)
- WHO: Senior Technical Lead (Immunization Agenda) (Geneva, Switzerland)
- WHO: Communications Consultant (COVID vaccination) (Ukraine)
- WHO: Vaccination Technical Officer COVID-19 (Indonesia)
- UNICEF: Information Management Individual Contractor (Syrian Arab Rep)
- IFRC: Risk Communication and Community Engagement (RCCE) Inter-agency Regional Advisor for MENA/EM (Lebanon)
- UNICEF: Consultant, Integrated Outbreak Analytics - Health Section (United States)
Upcoming Events
27-31 July 2021
7th International Conference on Computational Social Science
The International Conference on Computational Social Science is the premier annual meeting bringing together researchers from different disciplines interested in using computational and data-intensive methods to address societally relevant problems.
The program has a number of presentations relevant to infodemic managers including multilingual fact-checking, assessing infodemic risk, drivers of infodemic waves and social media and the infodemic.
Check out all the papers and register for the conference.
19-23 July 2021
International Festival of Public Health 2021 | University of Manchester
Following a postponement last year due to COVID-19 the international festival of public health is back this year. The theme of this year's festival is ‘COVID-19: Learning lessons for the future’. The festival will be entirely online, delivered across a whole week, and will be completely free of charge.
Register for the festival here
3-5 Oct 2021
Global Health Literacy Summit
The theme for the 2021 Global Summit is 'Health Literacy for all', and over 500 health leaders will gather to network and share ideas. Health literacy is a person's ability to access, understand and act on information to make health decisions. The infodemic can impact on the health literacy of individuals and communities. Plenaries at this summit will look at the role of health literacy during the COVID-19 pandemic, including the impact of misinformation and disinformation.
Early bird registration closes 31st July
14 July 2021
COVID Vaccine, Misinformation and Disinformation
The Royal Society for Public Health (RSPH) is an independent public health charity dedicated to improving and protecting people's health. They are leading a discussion on the issue of COVID-19, the vaccine and misinformation. Speakers will discuss what sort of misinformation and disinformation has been seen throughout the pandemic, how organised it’s been, what it's led to and how people can ensure they are sourcing credible and accurate information.
Recent Events
Building Best in Class Chatbots
The recording is now available for the ‘Building best in class chatbots during COVID-19’ webinar. This webinar, hosted by WHO, saw government, NGO, academia, the private sector and WHO staff come together to discuss and share lessons learnt during the pandemic.
Recordings and a series of short research summaries on key topics can be viewed here
WHO Global Conference on Communicating Science During Health Emergencies
The WHO global conference on communicating science during health emergencies hosted the public closing session on the 25th of June. Running from the 7th to the 25th of June, the conference was attended by more than 4500 attendees from over 159 countries. The call for examples of good practice was answered by participants with 78 examples being shared. During the thematic sessions from 8th to the 24th June, 61 invited science communicators discussed challenges they encountered during the pandemic and identified solutions to make science accessible and relevant to all.
Read more about the conference
Watch the closing webinar
Public Health Disinformation and the COVID-19 Pandemic in Kazakhstan
The Oxus Society for Central Asian affairs recently hosted a webinar with experts seeking to explore the effects of disinformation during the COVID-19 pandemic in Kazakhstan.
Find out more
Watch the webinar in English
Watch the webinar in Russian
What We're Reading
Indian scientists tackle the infodemic
17 June 2021
Fun With Numbers
That's bananas...
At least 5. That is the number of times bananas have been blamed for problems with viruses. In 2014, bananas were incorrectly blamed for helping to transmit Ebola, while in 2016, there was a conspiracy theory circulating that people who ate bananas were apparently more likely to be bitten by mosquitoes carrying the Zika virus. Not true! In 2016 and 2018, rumour had it that eating bananas could result in developing AIDS. Definitely
not! It was the 2009 H1N1 pandemic's turn in 2019, when banana conspiracies mutated to claim the fruit was apparently turning red when contaminated with the virus. Nope! And, not to be left out, in 2020, rumours circulated that COVID-19 was being injected into bananas. False! Unless you're building good resilience to this kind of misinformation, it's enough to make you want to give up your banana smoothie...
Thanks to Myth Detector for the banana-related research, which shows us that the same kind of tropes can be re-purposed time and again in different contexts. So it's important for infodemic managers to avoid getting too distracted by any one particular conspiracy theory, and instead do some good social listening work online and offline to help identify the underlying reasons why people are sharing this kind of misinformation. This way we can address the root causes, with empathy, rather than merely reacting to the consequences. In the meantime, eat your bananas.
About the News Flash
An infodemic is an overabundance of information—some accurate, some not—that spreads alongside a disease outbreak. Infodemics are nothing new, but in the digital age, they spread in real time and create a breeding ground for uncertainty. Uncertainty fuels skepticism and distrust, which is perfect environment for fear, anxiety, finger-pointing, stigma, violent aggression and dismissal of proven public health measures. To manage an infodemic, we need to understand what contributes to it. So that’s why we’re sending you these updates. In each issue of the WHO’s Infodemic Management News Flash we’ll share the latest work happening at the global level, as well as highlight some of the challenges and solutions with infodemics in local contexts. We’ll also provide you with a few takeaways to help you be an effective infodemic manager in your daily life.
If you have a tip on infodemic management or an idea for a future News Flash, email us at infodemicmanagement@who.int. Thanks for joining us on this journey.
