English

mHero App

This app was developed during the Ebola crisis to help frontline health workers to keep u to date with the latest data and guidance, as well as keep a check on their own health.

Lessons learned from the Ebola response pointed to how fast, informative communication to frontline health workers and their immediate, precise case reporting helped tackle the health emergency. mHero was useful in engaging communities, managing rumors, and mitigating public health threats.

Given mHero’s origin, it is uniquely suited to fulfill communication needs during the COVID-19 pandemic. The mHero platform can be used for myriad government health communications needs, segmenting health workers into specific groups to:

  • Coordinate health promotion strategies and public health emergency responses
  • Train health workers on infection prevention and control and risk communication
  • Test health worker knowledge of COVID-19 responses through mini-quizzes
  • Report suspected COVID-19 cases and other high-priority diseases
  • Relay unanticipated stock-outs of essential commodities such as sterile gloves, masks, and respirators
  • Reveal local health and safety concerns, including mental health and physical risks

Source: mHero App

    Views 683

    What is the World Doing about COVID-19 Vaccine Acceptance?

    Even before the COVID-19 crisis, the WHO declared vaccination hesitancy one of the Top 10 threats to global health in 2019.

    A vaccine will help prevent new infections, and more than that, it will help businesses and schools in hard-hit countries get back to normal. Vast amounts of money have been invested in finding a vaccine and media reports update us regularly on the progress of over 200 candidate vaccines under evaluation.This blog shares research on vaccine acceptance worldwide.

    Source: What is the World Doing about COVID-19 Vaccine Acceptance?

      Views 562

      COVID-19 Contact Tracing Online Course

      The COVID-19 crisis has created an unprecedented need for contact tracing across the country, requiring thousands of people to learn key skills quickly. The job qualifications for contact tracing positions differ throughout the country and the world, with some new positions open to individuals with a high school diploma or equivalent.

      In this introductory course, students will learn about the science of SARS-CoV-2 , including the infectious period, the clinical presentation of COVID-19, and the evidence for how SARS-CoV-2 is transmitted from person-to-person and why contact tracing can be such an effective public health intervention. Students will learn about how contact tracing is done, including how to build rapport with cases, identify their contacts, and support both cases and their contacts to stop transmission in their communities.

      The course will also cover several important ethical considerations around contact tracing, isolation, and quarantine. Finally, the course will identify some of the most common barriers to contact tracing efforts — along with strategies to overcome them.

      Source: COVID-19 Contact Tracing Online Course

        Views 572

        Who to Trust and How to Overcome COVID-19 Misinformation in Nigeria

        In Nigeria, as in many countries, social media has allowed anyone to post COVID-19 misinformation as truth and fact, while misleading the public and, in some cases, causing real damage.

        This article reviews some of the major misinformation events in Nigeria during the pandemic and notes the steps being taken to correct that situation.

        Source: Who to Trust and How to Overcome COVID-19 Misinformation in Nigeria

          Views 695

          Coronavirus Message for Communities

          This short video can be used in many communities.  It answers the questions: How does coronavirus (COVID-19) spread? What are the symptoms? Who is at risk? How can you protect yourself and your family?

          Source: Coronavirus Message for Communities

            Views 781

            COVID-19 Care in India: The Course to Self-Reliance

            The public health response to COVID-19 in India has been highly centralized, resulting in a homogenous strategy applied across a sixth of the world’s population.

            India was placed in a nationwide lockdown on March 24, 2020, with restrictions being relaxed in three phases since June. In May 2020, the prime minister called upon the Indian people to be self-reliant. The authors discuss opportunities to modify several aspects of the medical response to echo this sentiment.

            They conclude that what is still needed is a plethora of low-tech solutions (especially facial coverings), adherence to science, and societal participation in caring for vulnerable people.

            Source: COVID-19 Care in India: The Course to Self-Reliance

              Views 613

              COVID-19–Related Infodemic and Its Impact on Public Health: A Global Social Media Analysis

              The authors of this article followed and examined COVID-19–related rumors, stigma, and conspiracy theories circulating on online platforms, including fact-checking agency websites, Facebook, Twitter, and online newspapers, and their impacts on public health.

              Information was extracted between December 31, 2019 and April 5, 2020, and descriptively analyzed. They performed a content analysis of the news articles to compare and contrast data collected from other sources, and identified 2,311 reports of rumors, stigma, and conspiracy theories in 25 languages from 87 countries. Claims were related to illness, transmission and mortality (24%), control measures (21%), treatment and cure (19%), cause of disease including the origin (15%), violence (1%), and miscellaneous (20%).

              Of the 2,276 reports for which text ratings were available, 1,856 claims were false (82%).

              Misinformation fueled by rumors, stigma, and conspiracy theories can have potentially serious implications on the individual and community if prioritized over evidence-based guidelines. Health agencies must track misinformation associated with the COVID-19 in real time, and engage local communities and government stakeholders to debunk misinformation.

              Source: COVID-19–Related Infodemic and Its Impact on Public Health: A Global Social Media Analysis

                Views 754

                How to Report Misinformation Online

                As the world responds to the  COVID-19 pandemic, we all face the challenge of an overabundance of information related to the virus. Some of this information may be false and potentially harmful.

                Inaccurate information spreads widely and at speed, making it more difficult for the public to identify verified facts and advice  from trusted sources, such as  their local health authority or WHO. However, everyone can help to stop the spread. If you see content online that you believe to be false or misleading, you can report it to the hosting social media platform.

                This page offers links to various social media platforms’ sites for reporting inappropriate content.

                Source: How to Report Misinformation Online

                  Views 764

                  Immunizing the Public against Misinformation

                  Proliferating misinformation — even when the content is, in a best-case scenario, harmless — can have serious and even social and lethal health ramifications in the context of a global pandemic. In some countries, rumours about impending food scarcity prompted people to stockpile supplies early on in the epidemic and caused actual shortages.

                  This article is an interview with Tim Nguyen whose team manages the Information Network for Epidemics (EPI-WIN), which is leading WHO work on managing infodemics.

                  Source: Immunizing the Public against Misinformation

                    Views 546