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In the recent years, the circulation of health misinformation and disinformation has exploded with the digitalized information ecosystem. They cause confusion and risk-taking behaviours that can harm health. They also lead to mistrust in health authorities and undermines the public health response. Misinformation and disinformation can intensify or lengthen outbreaks when people are unsure about what they need to do to protect their health and the health of people around them especially during health emergencies. Public health workers need knowledge and skills to manage harm from health misinformation and disinformation. This course will help them to better understand the infodemic mechanisms that underlie the emergence and spread of misinformation, the complex and harmful nature of disinformation and how to intervene to better prevent and respond to both of these types of information-based harms.
This course is also available in these following languages:
Overview: Public health authorities have a duty to share health information with the population so that people can adopt adequate behaviours to protect their health and the health of others. However, in our modern information ecosystem this objective can be challenged by the overflow of information of varying quality that surges across digital and physical environments during acute public health events. Understanding how this infodemic, including misinformation and disinformation, links to people's intent and behaviour in different communities online and offline, and how to manage it, has become critical for effective preparedness and prevention of health threats.
This course introduces the learners to the concept of health misinformation in an infodemic management context, what harms it can cause, how it spreads, and how to prevent and manage it. It also dives deeper into the difference between misinformation and disinformation with an overview of how threat actors weaponize information during public health emergencies to cause harm. After completing this course, interested participants can enrol in further courses of the infodemic management OpenWHO course series as they become available.
Duration: Approximately 3 hours
Certificates: A certificate of achievement will be available to participants who score at least 80% of the total points available in the final assessment. Participants who receive a certificate of achievement can also download an Open Badge for this course. Click here to learn how.
Should you be interested in learning more about other aspects of infodemic management, please refer to the remaining modules of this course series:
- Infodemic Management 101
- Infodemic Management: Developing an infodemic insights report
- Infodemic Management: Social marketing and message testing methods
- Infodemic Management: Defining a taxonomy for social listening
- Infodemic Management: Using human-centered design good practices
- Infodemic Management: Working effectively as an infodemic manager in the field