“It is not a matter of what is true that counts, but a matter of what is perceived to be true” — H.K.
This blog was written by Aleksandra Kuzmanovic, Leadership Social Media Manager at WHO. You can find the original article here.
The COVID-19 pandemic has caused an exponential growth in health-related mis- and dis-information. It has also influenced the erosion of trust in public institutions across the world. The consequences of this are felt strongly in the debates around the hashtagPandemicAccord, an instrument that governments are negotiating at the moment, aiming to find a common commitment to share information, pathogens, vaccines, tests, medicines when the next pandemic happens — and ultimately make sure that people everywhere have an equal chance of protection, treatment and survival next time.
As the negotiations are happening at the World Health Organization, false and dangerous narratives have been created about the WHO’s interests in getting the instrument done. Dr Tedros has debunked these countless times, my colleague Paul Garwood has been working with media fact checkers, and many colleagues have mobilized multiple partners to add their voices.
As part of the effort, I have been privileged to work with Nursing Now Challenge in a series of workshops to:
1) Help their members understand the difference between mis- and dis-information
2) Help their members in improving their hashtagSocialMedia communication skills
3) Motivate their members to be part of the conversation
How is this relevant to the Pandemic Accord debates?
– Nurses are the most trusted health voices.
– I am a strong believer that in order to mitigate the impacts of health mis- and dis-information, we need to significantly increase the supply and improve the quality of health content.
– Helping nurses produce more relevant and timely content can help us move the needle — not only around the Pandemic Accord, but around any other health challenges.
A month ago we had the first workshop to set the scene. Last week we held the second one, during which I discussed:
1) Social media do’s & don’ts
2) Tips to build social media community and trust
3) Tips on how (not) to respond mis- and disinformation
