Extracts below from the Telegraph newspaper (UK) and a comment from me. Full text: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/global-health/science-and-disease/health-wor...
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Witchcraft and WhatsApp: The fight to contain Ebola misinformation
Huge groups on messaging apps, where many share voice notes because many cannot read, are a major conduit for information about the outbreak
While Julienne Anoko’s colleagues work in treatment wards and labs to stop the spread of Ebola, she takes on WhatsApp groups with tens of thousands of members, where distrust and rumours are rife...
The past six weeks have seen her deal with beliefs that the outbreak is caused by witchcraft, by magic coffins, or is a pretext by outsiders to control local gold mines.
Step-by-step, she and her team have tried to persuade the population that the virus is real and that precautions and strict burial arrangements are necessary for their safety.
The tide is turning, she told the Telegraph in a phone interview this week, but even as the population comes to believe the virus is real, there is now widespread impatience and fear at the lack of government help.
She said: “What I saw at first was that people were afraid. They didn’t believe that Ebola existed. They thought it was witchcraft, sorcery and poisoning.
“Now they are scared. They understand that Ebola is real and it’s killing them.”...
“My teams and I are part of several WhatsApp groups. We correct misinformation and we share the right information.”...
Resistance from the local people is not necessarily born of ignorance, says Dr Githinji Gitahi, the group chief executive of Amref Health Africa, but a result of historical neglect.
“When a health system has struggled to address daily emergencies but suddenly scales up for a single disease, communities draw their own conclusions...
“When people see extraordinary mobilisation for Ebola but continue to lose children to malaria, malnutrition, and maternal complications, the reasoning can feel disconnected.
“They may wonder why such resources were not available for the threats they face every day.”
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COMMENT (NPW): WhatsApp groups have a maximum of 1,024 members. We would be interested to hear how HIFA members are using WhatsApp to promote the availability and use of reliable healthcare information. A possible topic for a HIFA Spotlight? www.hifa.org/spotlights
Our HIFA social media team uses WhatsApp very successfully to keep in touch and coordinate activities.
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