Dear HIFA colleagues,
Joseph Ana asks: "It would be good to know what the Assembly discussed about Infodemic, Misinformation, Disinformation, and the crucial need to counter the damage done to public health, when there is this determined effort by very big countries, big institutions, and big highly placed and monetarily rich men and women to promote anti-science."
https://www.hifa.org/dgroups-rss/who-news-release-seventy-eighth-world-h...
I did a quick search on WHA78 and misinformation and found only one reference:
'Member States’ adoption of the Pandemic Agreement made this year’s WHA historic. Skilled diplomacy, along with encouragement of civil society advocates, helped steer the process away from the edge of defeat and toward the finish line. Despite the persistent challenges of geopolitics and mis- and disinformation, no countries voted against its adoption.'
https://unfoundation.org/what-we-do/issues/global-health/global-health-r...
I would be interested to hear from any HIFA members who were present at the WHA on what was discussed on this topic.
Meanwhile, can anyone explain what is the written record from the WHA and how is this made available?
Is there potential to make the full text of future WHAs available for all? In this way, for example, we would be able to search on the word 'misinformation' to find what was said on the subject. AI could readily capture and transcribe all contributions, which could be made available as an informal comprehensive record?
Best wishes, Neil
HIFA profile: Neil Pakenham-Walsh is coordinator of HIFA (Healthcare Information For All), a global health community that brings all stakeholders together around the shared goal of universal access to reliable healthcare information. HIFA has 20,000 members in 180 countries, interacting in four languages and representing all parts of the global evidence ecosystem. HIFA is administered by Global Healthcare Information Network, a UK-based nonprofit in official relations with the World Health Organization. Email: neil@hifa.org