Infodemic

                   After the initial days of dalgona coffee and ludo king match nights, lockdown or rather the pandemic had a numbing effect on all of us. The ever growing numbers of cases and death tolls, all the first world nations under lockdown, the big retailers going bankrupt, everything seemed glee and survival at stake. Depression took its form, irrespective of whether they were spending whole day before a screen or in kitchen cooking, it was bound to have its effects on all. The rising number had an unending effect on all of us, no arguments, but have we ever paused to thing, is the rising numbers deducting the number of recovered patients or rather are they even publishing these numbers? Is our westernized outlook of everything make us only concentrate on the rising cases in America and death toll of Italy? Did we pause to check out the Bilwara model or how Goa or Kerala contained the pandemic? This exactly is Infodemic.

What is an infodemic?

 An Infodemic is an overabundance of information, some accurate and some not, occurring during an epidemic. It makes it hard for people to find trustworthy sources and reliable guidance when they need it. Even when people have access to high-quality information, there are still barriers they must overcome to take the recommended action. They make the readers feel overwhelmed or over burdened by whatever is happening around us. “We’re not just fighting an epidemic; we’re fighting an Infodemic,” said Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) at a gathering of foreign policy and security experts in Munich, Germany, in mid- February, referring to fake news that “spreads faster and more easily than this virus.” WHO explains that infodemics are an excessive amount of information about a problem, which makes it difficult to identify a solution. They can spread misinformation, disinformation and rumors during a health emergency. Infodemics can hamper an effective public health response and create confusion and distrust among people.

How to tackle this?

            To tackle this information a team of WHO “myth busters” are working with companies like Facebook, Google, Pinterest, Tencent, Twitter, TikTok, YouTube and others to counter the spread of rumors, which include misinformation like that the virus cannot survive in the hot weather, that taking a high dose of chloroquine medication can protect you, and that consuming large quantities of ginger and garlic can prevent the virus. These companies, according to news reports, are aggressively filtering out unfounded medical advice, hoaxes and other false information that they say could risk public health. In a rare move, Facebook and Twitter have taken down a post from a head of State that falsely stated that a drug was working everywhere against the coronavirus. (Inspired from an article published in Times of India.)