[Re: https://www.hifa.org/dgroups-rss/15th-grand-challenge-global-public-heal... ]
Jules Storr notes, in relation to social media,'a profound challenge: the scale, speed, and impact of misinformation'. Yes, social media is largely responsible for this catastrophic impact on the availability and use of reliable healthcare information.
"Access alone is no longer enough."
Indeed, I remember in the early 2000s a lot of people on our predecessor platform (Health Inforamtion Forum) expressed confidence that universal internet access alone would ensure universal access to reliable healthcare information. And yet, here we are 20 years later - the majority of the world's population has internet access and yet are exposed more than ever to misinformation and continue to find it difficult to get the reliable information they need. Even basic practical healthcare information, such as whether to give fluids or withhold (!) fluids for the treatment of child diarrhoea, has improved little - resulting in 1200 avoidable child deaths due to diarrhoea *every day* worldwide. https://www.hifa.org/about-hifa/why-hifa-needed
Meanwhile, there is also a very dangerous trend in recent months and years, spearheaded by the United States, firstly to ignore the evidence in health policymaking and secondly to actively misinform the public. This is in direct contradiction to the work of HIFA and the New York Law School, which concluded that governments have an obligation under international human rights law to ensure their populations are adequately informed on health.
"What responsibilities and opportunities does this moment place on us as a global community committed to equity in health information?"
What is needed is for WHO to explicitly champion the goal of universal access to reliable healthcare information and to convene stakeholders to develop a global strategy for its realisation. There is growing consensus that this requires a systems-thinking approach to better understand and strengthen the global evidence ecosystem https://www.hifa.org/about-hifa
"How do you see the role of social media in advancing the HIFA vision today?"
Social media currently has mainly a polluting effect on the global evidence ecosystem. Its main impact is negative: misinformation and disinformation. Efforts by WHO to address misinformation through social media are important and should be supported. However, I cannot see how social media in its current form can have a cumulative positive impact on the dissemination and exchange of health information.
HIFA uses social media primarily to raise the visibility of universal access to reliable healthcare information as a neglected global health issue. I join Jules (herself a formed HIFA social mediator coordinator) in thanking Ben Nicholls (current coordinator) and his dynamic international team. https://www.hifa.org/people/social-media
Here again are our handles. Please do follow us on whichever platform(s) you use!
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/healthcare-information-for-all-hifa
X: twitter.com/hifa_org
Facebook: facebook.com/HIFAdotORG
Instagram: instagram.com/hifa_org
YouTube: youtube.com/HIFAGlobalHealth
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