101
views
0
recommends
+1 Recommend
1 collections
    0
    shares
      • Record: found
      • Abstract: found
      • Article: found
      Is Open Access

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

      research-article

      Read this article at

      Bookmark
          There is no author summary for this article yet. Authors can add summaries to their articles on ScienceOpen to make them more accessible to a non-specialist audience.

          Abstract.

          Infodemics, often including rumors, stigma, and conspiracy theories, have been common during the COVID-19 pandemic. Monitoring social media data has been identified as the best method for tracking rumors in real time and as a possible way to dispel misinformation and reduce stigma. However, the detection, assessment, and response to rumors, stigma, and conspiracy theories in real time are a challenge. Therefore, we 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. We performed a content analysis of the news articles to compare and contrast data collected from other sources. We 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.

          Related collections

          Most cited references37

          • Record: found
          • Abstract: found
          • Article: found
          Is Open Access

          YouTube as a source of information on COVID-19: a pandemic of misinformation?

          Introduction The COVID-19 pandemic is this century’s largest public health emergency and its successful management relies on the effective dissemination of factual information. As a social media platform with billions of daily views, YouTube has tremendous potential to both support and hinder public health efforts. However, the usefulness and accuracy of most viewed YouTube videos on COVID-19 have not been investigated. Methods A YouTube search was performed on 21 March 2020 using keywords ‘coronavirus’ and ‘COVID-19’, and the top 75 viewed videos from each search were analysed. Videos that were duplicates, non-English, non-audio and non-visual, exceeding 1 hour in duration, live and unrelated to COVID-19 were excluded. Two reviewers coded the source, content and characteristics of included videos. The primary outcome was usability and reliability of videos, analysed using the novel COVID-19 Specific Score (CSS), modified DISCERN (mDISCERN) and modified JAMA (mJAMA) scores. Results Of 150 videos screened, 69 (46%) were included, totalling 257 804 146 views. Nineteen (27.5%) videos contained non-factual information, totalling 62 042 609 views. Government and professional videos contained only factual information and had higher CSS than consumer videos (mean difference (MD) 2.21, 95% CI 0.10 to 4.32, p=0.037); mDISCERN scores than consumer videos (MD 2.46, 95% CI 0.50 to 4.42, p=0.008), internet news videos (MD 2.20, 95% CI 0.19 to 4.21, p=0.027) and entertainment news videos (MD 2.57, 95% CI 0.66 to 4.49, p=0.004); and mJAMA scores than entertainment news videos (MD 1.21, 95% CI 0.07 to 2.36, p=0.033) and consumer videos (MD 1.27, 95% CI 0.10 to 2.44, p=0.028). However, they only accounted for 11% of videos and 10% of views. Conclusion Over one-quarter of the most viewed YouTube videos on COVID-19 contained misleading information, reaching millions of viewers worldwide. As the current COVID-19 pandemic worsens, public health agencies must better use YouTube to deliver timely and accurate information and to minimise the spread of misinformation. This may play a significant role in successfully managing the COVID-19 pandemic.
            Bookmark
            • Record: found
            • Abstract: found
            • Article: not found

            How Does Stigma Affect People Living with HIV? The Mediating Roles of Internalized and Anticipated HIV Stigma in the Effects of Perceived Community Stigma on Health and Psychosocial Outcomes.

            Few researchers have attempted to examine the mechanisms through which HIV-related stigma in the community is processed and experienced at an individual level by people living with HIV. We examined how the effects of perceived HIV stigma in the community on health outcomes for people living with HIV are mediated by internalized stigma and anticipated stigma. Participants (N = 203) from an HIV clinic completed self-report measures and their clinical data were obtained from medical records. Results suggested that the association between perceived community stigma and affective, cognitive, and mental health outcomes (self-esteem, depressive symptoms, avoidance coping, self-blame) are mediated by internalized stigma. Furthermore, a serial mediation model suggested that perceived community stigma leads to internalized stigma, which leads to anticipated community stigma, which in turn leads to lower medication adherence. The associations between perceived community stigma and interpersonal outcomes (social support, trust in physicians) were mediated by internalized stigma and anticipated stigma, again in a serial fashion (perceived community stigma leads to internalized stigma, which leads to anticipated stigma, which in turn leads to interpersonal outcomes). These results suggest that perceived HIV-related stigma in the community may cause people living with HIV to internalize stigma and anticipate stigmatizing experiences, resulting in adverse health and psychosocial outcomes-information that can be used to shape interventions.
              Bookmark
              • Record: found
              • Abstract: found
              • Article: not found

              Attacks against health-care personnel must stop, especially as the world fights COVID-19

              Physicians, nurses, and other front-line health-care workers have been celebrated in many countries as heroes for their work during the COVID-19 pandemic. Yet not everyone appreciates their efforts and contributions. Since the beginning of this pandemic, headlines have also captured stories of health-care personnel facing attacks as they travel to and from health-care facilities. Nurses and doctors have been pelted with eggs and physically assaulted in Mexico. 1 In the Philippines, a nurse was reportedly attacked by men who poured bleach on his face, damaging his vision. 2 Across India, reports describe health-care workers being beaten, stoned, spat on, threatened, and evicted from their homes. 3 These are just a few examples among many across numerous countries, including the USA and Australia. 2 Sadly, violence against health-care personnel is not a new phenomenon. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, such attacks were increasingly documented in clinics and hospitals worldwide.3, 4 Attacks on health-care workers and health-care facilities also occur as a deplorable tactic of war that defies international humanitarian and human rights laws. In May, 2020, an armed attack on a hospital maternity ward in Kabul, Afghanistan, killed at least 24 civilians, including two infants. 5 And in the midst of the humanitarian emergency of thousands of people displaced in opposition-held areas of northwest Syria, the Syrian Government has continued to bomb health-care facilities in that region. 6 Acts of violence in any context must be condemned. What makes the current attacks specifically horrifying is that health-care personnel are responding to a crisis that is deeply affecting all societies. Governmental failures in some countries to adequately provide and manage resources in this pandemic mean that health-care personnel are risking their lives daily by caring for COVID-19 patients without adequate personal protective equipment and other safety measures in their workplaces. 7 As a result, thousands of health-care workers worldwide have contracted severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and have thus been perceived as public health hazards themselves. 8 This situation has generated violence against them in some places, essentially for performing their professional duties. This response is likely to exacerbate already unprecedented COVID-19-related stress and burnout that health-care workers and their families are experiencing in this pandemic. With the COVID-19 pandemic taxing the health-care systems of almost every country, assaults on health-care workers are assaults against all of us. We depend on their health and wellbeing so that they can continue to provide care to individuals, families, and communities with and without COVID-19. The reasons people attack and abuse health-care personnel during health emergencies are many, and local contexts vary. In some settings during the COVID-19 pandemic, fear, panic, misinformation about how SARS-CoV-2 can spread, and misplaced anger are likely drivers. A few government leaders have responded by announcing swift and, in some cases, draconian punishment for those who attack health-care workers. 9 Yet threats of retribution do not address the causes of such violence and alone are unlikely to curtail these attacks. Effective responses must address the root causes. We recommend that the following actions be taken immediately. First, collect data on the incidence and types of attacks on health-care personnel, including in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, in all countries to fully understand the scope of the problem and to design interventions to prevent and respond to the attacks. National and international bodies such as WHO must engage in a coordinated global effort. And this initiative must incorporate lessons learned from previous efforts to document violence against health-care personnel, such as attacks on those leading polio vaccination campaigns or who cared for patients with Ebola virus disease. 10 Data on attacks specific to COVID-19 should be systematically gathered and included in the WHO Surveillance System of Attacks on Healthcare. Global support from all member states and their communities for this effort is essential to achieve a robust surveillance system. National data should be collected by ministries of health or occupational health and safety bodies. Mechanisms to analyse, share, and widely disseminate this information on violence against health-care personnel need to be developed or expanded, following the example of the reports from the Safeguarding Health in Conflict Coalition 11 and data gathered by Insecurity Insight, 12 among others. © 2020 Jose Luis Gonzales/Reuters 2020 Since January 2020 Elsevier has created a COVID-19 resource centre with free information in English and Mandarin on the novel coronavirus COVID-19. The COVID-19 resource centre is hosted on Elsevier Connect, the company's public news and information website. Elsevier hereby grants permission to make all its COVID-19-related research that is available on the COVID-19 resource centre - including this research content - immediately available in PubMed Central and other publicly funded repositories, such as the WHO COVID database with rights for unrestricted research re-use and analyses in any form or by any means with acknowledgement of the original source. These permissions are granted for free by Elsevier for as long as the COVID-19 resource centre remains active. Second, attacks against health-care personnel must be prevented and condemned. Partnerships for the prevention of violence must be forged. Local and state governments must partner with civil society, community-based groups, and media organisations to highlight the problem of attacks on health-care workers and engage with the community on prevention, bystander intervention, and reporting. The Health Care in Danger team of the International Committee of the Red Cross, for example, recently published a checklist for preventing violence against health-care workers in the COVID-19 response, which includes recommendations for communication and collaboration. 13 Third, misinformation and disinformation about COVID-19 must be countered. Widespread misinformation and disinformation about COVID-19, including conspiracy theories, have contributed to the demonisation of certain groups such as health-care workers. 14 Governments, international collaborative bodies, and social media companies must further refine and expand effective public information campaigns to keep members of the public informed and educated and to correct misinformation. These should include clear and concise information on how SARS-CoV-2 is and is not spread and the science behind response measures. In the face of high levels of community distrust in many places, active engagement of key trusted community stakeholders and organisations in information campaigns will also be essential for success. Fourth, accountability is needed. We must demand strong yet responsible enforcement actions against perpetrators of attacks by local and national governments. Violence against health-care personnel should be met with swift responses from law enforcement and legal systems. Local law enforcement authorities must fully investigate each reported incident, with an objective, evidence-based process. Full accountability for these crimes must be ensured and perpetrators must be held accountable. Fifth, state and local governments should invest in health security measures to protect health-care workers as part of COVID-19 emergency budgets. Funding for the protection of health-care personnel and health facilities is needed now. Finally, health professional associations, societies, and organisations from all specialties and disciplines should unite in speaking out forcefully against all acts of discrimination, intimidation, and violence against health-care workers. 15 They must immediately condemn violence when it occurs and participate in initiatives aimed at responding to and eliminating violence. These actions must be taken now. By protecting health-care personnel, we protect our most valuable assets in the fight against COVID-19: doctors, nurses, emergency medical technicians, medical and respiratory technicians, laboratory workers, and many others on the front lines.
                Bookmark

                Author and article information

                Journal
                Am J Trop Med Hyg
                Am J Trop Med Hyg
                tpmd
                tropmed
                The American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene
                The American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene
                0002-9637
                1476-1645
                October 2020
                10 August 2020
                10 August 2020
                : 103
                : 4
                : 1621-1629
                Affiliations
                [1 ]Program for Emerging Infections, Infectious Diseases Division, icddr,b, Dhaka, Bangladesh;
                [2 ]School of Public Health and Community Medicine, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia;
                [3 ]Khulna University of Engineering and Technology, Khulna, Bangladesh;
                [4 ]Mahidol University, Nakhon Pathom, Thailand;
                [5 ]Centre for Primary Health Care and Equity, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia;
                [6 ]Department of Infectious Diseases and Microbiology, School of Medicine, International University of Health and Welfare, Narita, Japan
                Author notes
                [* ]Address correspondence to Md Saiful Islam, Program for Emerging Infections, Infectious Disease Division, icddr,b, 68, Shaheed Tajuddin Ahmed Sarani, Mohakhali, Dhaka, Bangladesh. E-mail: saiful@ 123456icddrb.org

                Disclosure: The data can be shared with qualifying researchers who submit a proposal with a valuable research question. A collaborative agreement should be signed.

                Authors’ addresses: Md Saiful Islam, Program for Emerging Infections, Infectious Diseases Division, International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh (icddr,b), Dhaka, Bangladesh, and Department of Medicine, School of Public Health and Community Medicine, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia, E-mail: mdsaiful.islam@ 123456unsw.edu.au . Tonmoy Sarkar, Sazzad Hossain Khan, Dalia Yeasmin, Mohammad Ariful Islam, and Kamal Ibne Amin Chowdhury, Program for Emerging Infections, Infectious Diseases Division, International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh (icddr,b), Dhaka, Bangladesh, E-mails: tonmoy@ 123456icddrb.org , sazzad.hossain@ 123456icddrb.org , daliay@ 123456icddrb.org , mariful@ 123456icddrb.org , and kiachowdhury@ 123456icddrb.org . Abu-Hena Mostofa Kamal, Department of Humanities, Khulna University of Engineering and Technology, Khulna, Bangladesh, E-mail: mukul.soc2013@ 123456gmail.com . S. M. Murshid Hasan, Department of Society and Health, Mahidol University, Nakhon Pathom, Thailand, E-mail: smmurshid.haa@ 123456student.mahidol.ac.th . Alamgir Kabir, Abrar Ahmad Chughtai, and Holly Seale, Department of Medicine, School of Public Health and Community Medicine, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia, E-mails: a.kabir@ 123456unsw.edu.au , abrar.chughtai@ 123456unsw.edu.au , and h.seale@ 123456unsw.edu.au . Kazi Selim Anwar, Department of Infectious Diseases and Microbiology, International University of Health and Welfare, Narita, Japan, E-mail: kselim2256@ 123456gmail.com .

                Article
                tpmd200812
                10.4269/ajtmh.20-0812
                7543839
                32783794
                df8015f8-5656-4cad-9236-ef72bfdf3953
                © The American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene

                This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

                History
                : 07 July 2020
                : 03 August 2020
                Page count
                Pages: 9
                Categories
                Articles

                Infectious disease & Microbiology
                Infectious disease & Microbiology

                Comments

                Comment on this article