#MMS22 brought together experts from India, Italy, Philippines and Zimbabwe to discuss and deliberate on the challenges and opportunities to address health misinformation across Asia, and the world.
By Varadarajan Ananthakrishnan
One of the main panel discussions on the Misinformation in Medicine Summit, 2022 – was about the challenges and collaboration opportunities in addressing health misinformation.
The panel discussion, moderated by Jisha Krishnan, Editor of First Check, had some of the best minds from different countries sharing their insights. So, what are the narratives in different regions?
Dr. Kishore Kumar, Founder Chairman & Consultant Neonatologist, Cloudnine Hospitals, India remarked that the pandemic has worsened the problem of fast spreading misinformation. He said, “In India the narratives were that the mRNA vaccine is much superior than the local vaccines. There were narratives that autopsies were done in Italy on Covid victims, and that showed that the lungs were infected with bacteria, and not virus.”.
Sandra Varaidzo Machiri, Health Communications Specialist, African Field Epidemiology Network, Zimbabwe said that despite having periodic outbreaks of various diseases including Ebola, typhoid etc, trust in health communicators is still not at a level that it should be at. She said that misinformation narratives include theories that “Within African region, people want to do away with the Black community, black population. We want to make sure we wipe them out – that is why we are bringing in Covid 19 to Africa, we are bringing in the vaccines.”
Dr. Nicola Simone, Biologist, PhD, Infodemic Manager, Italy and an active member of First Check said that Italy is facing a gap of perception. According to him, “Because there are a lot of middle-aged people who fell ill without any symptom. And so, they say, see? It is not a serious illness. While other people are having really serious symptoms. Our ICUs are getting filled day by day. And so, there is a gap of perception because if you don’t see it, it doesn’t happen.”
Luz Rimban, Executive Director, Asian Centre for Journalism, Philippines talked about the efforts her organization is making. “We are trying to create a community of likeminded people who are fighting misinformation and disinformation. Ivermectin, like in India, is a problem in the Philippines where people think it is a cure. For a while people thought it was a cure.”
The discussion veered around how social media is becoming a major factor in the spread of misinformation. Sandra responded by saying that the internet penetration in Afro region is not the best, so they have to focus on both – online and offline -misinformation. Dr. Kishore remarked that social media can be a good tool to fight misinformation. He suggested four steps: “One. Challenge the accuracy of the information that is being spread, second – we have to verify the information and spread the correct information, third- punish the originators of misinformation, and fourth -have reliable websites by the government where people can verify information.”
What about people who fall for misinformation in your close circle of family and friends? Dr. Nicola thought that it was a tricky situation. He said, “Family and friends tend not to trust you properly. They say that though you are a doctor I am much older than you and seen more life, so I don’t trust you.”. Sandra said that there are people who will trust you because of your background. Luz advised caution when dealing with family and friends. She said, “The key is not to embarrass them and put them in a spot.” She added that if you spot misinformation in a family group, it is better to message them privately and tell them that this is misinformation.
Dr. Kishore said people buy into misinformation because they are desperate. He said, “Sometimes the misinformation they get is so powerful, and since they are in a desperate situation, they tend to listen to them.”
So, how does one make sure that misinformation is contained, and doesn’t spread? Luz thinks that fact-checking cannot be restricted to journalists. She said, “The work of fact checking and debunking has to be spread out. Everyone has to be doing it, not only the journalists. We need the help of all citizens in debunking. “
The panel discussion was held as a part of Misinformation in Medicine Summit 2022, hosted by Google News Initiative, supported by Konrad Adenauer Stiftung and convened by DataLEADS and Health Analytics Asia.
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