JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

An infodemic is an excess of information of varying quality, including false or misleading information and/or ambiguous information, that spreads in digital and physical environments during a public health emergency. The COVID-19 pandemic has been accompanied by an unprecedented global infodemic that has led to confusion about the benefits of medical and public health interventions with substantial impact on risk-taking and health-seeking behaviors, erode trust in health authorities and compromise the effectiveness of public health responses and policies. Standardized measures are needed to quantify the harmful impacts of the infodemic in a systematic and methodologically robust manner, and harmonizing highly divergent approaches currently explored for this purpose. This can serve as the foundation for a systematic, evidence-based approach to monitor, identify and mitigate future infodemic harms in emergency preparedness and prevention.

Objective:

In November 2021, WHO held the Fifth Infodemic Management Conference, which sought to identify the interdisciplinary approaches and frameworks needed to enable measurement of the burden of infodemics. The event utilized innovative approaches and tools including human centered-design and concept mapping to achieve consensus among experts across different disciplines and scientific fields. This resulted in the creation of a proposed action plan to serve as the blueprint for the future steps on systematically measuring the burden of infodemics.

Methods:

An iterative human-centered design approach was used to facilitate focused discussions and allow for the generation actionable outcomes and recommendations. The discussions included 86 participants representing diverse scientific disciplines and health authorities from 28 countries across all WHO regions, along with observers from civil society and global public health implementing partners. A thematic map capturing the concepts matching the key contributing factors to the public health burden of infodemics was used throughout the conference to frame and contextualize discussions. Five key areas for immediate action were identified.

Results:

The five key areas for development of metrics to assess the burden of infodemics and associated interventions included: (1) developing standardized definitions and ensuring the adoption thereof; (2) improving the map of concepts influencing the burden of infodemics; (3) conducting a review of evidence, tools and data sources; (4) setting up a technical working group; and (5) addressing immediate priorities for post-pandemic recovery and resilience building. The summary report consolidated group input toward a common vocabulary with standardized terms, concepts, study designs, measures, and tools to estimate the burden of infodemics and the effectiveness of infodemic management interventions.

Conclusions:

Standardizing measurement is the basis for documenting the burden of infodemics on health systems and population health during emergencies. Investment is needed into development of practical, affordable, evidence-based and systematic methods which are legally and ethically balanced, for the monitoring of infodemics, generation of diagnostics, infodemic insights and recommendations, and development of interventions, action-oriented guidance, policies, support options, mechanisms and tools for infodemic managers and emergency program managers.