A Public Health Research Agenda for Managing Infodemics: Methods and Results of the First WHO Infodemiology Conference

Neville Calleja, Abdel Halim Abd Allah, Neetu Abad, Naglaa Ahmed, Dolores Albarracin, Elena Altieri, Julienne N. Anoko, Ruben Arcos, Arina Anis Azlan, Judit Bayer, Anja Bechmann, Supriya Bezbaruah, Sylvie C. Briand, Ian Brooks, Lucie M. Bucci, Stefano Burzo, Christine Czerniak, Manlio De Domenico, Adam G. Dunn, Ullrich K.H. EckerLaura Espinosa, Camille Francois, Kacper Gradon, Anatoliy Gruzd, Beste Sultan Gülgün, Rustam Haydarov, Cherstyn Hurley, Santi Indra Astuti, Atsuyoshi Ishizumi, Neil Johnson, Dylan Johnson Restrepo, Masato Kajimoto, Aybüke Koyuncu, Shibani Kulkarni, Jaya Lamichhane, Rosamund Lewis, Avichal Mahajan, Ahmed Mandil, Erin McAweeney, Melanie Messer, Wesley Moy, Patricia Ndumbi Ngamala, Tim Nguyen, Mark Nunn, Saad B. Omer, Claudia Pagliari, Palak Patel, Lynette Phuong, Dimitri Prybylski, Arash Rashidian, Emily Rempel, Sara Rubinelli, Pier Luigi Sacco, Anton Schneider, Kai Shu, Melanie Smith, Harry Sufehmi, Viroj Tangcharoensathien, Robert Terry, Naveen Thacker, Tom Trewinnard, Shannon Turner, Heidi Tworek, Saad Uakkas, Emily Vraga, Claire Wardle, Herman Wasserman, Elisabeth Wilhelm, Andrea Würz, Brian Yau, Lei Zhou, Tina D. Purnat

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

85 Scopus citations

Abstract

Background: An infodemic is an overflow of information of varying quality that surges across digital and physical environments during an acute public health event. It leads to confusion, risk-taking, and behaviors that can harm health and lead to erosion of trust in health authorities and public health responses. Owing to the global scale and high stakes of the health emergency, responding to the infodemic related to the pandemic is particularly urgent. Building on diverse research disciplines and expanding the discipline of infodemiology, more evidence-based interventions are needed to design infodemic management interventions and tools and implement them by health emergency responders. Objective: The World Health Organization organized the first global infodemiology conference, entirely online, during June and July 2020, with a follow-up process from August to October 2020, to review current multidisciplinary evidence, interventions, and practices that can be applied to the COVID-19 infodemic response. This resulted in the creation of a public health research agenda for managing infodemics. Methods: As part of the conference, a structured expert judgment synthesis method was used to formulate a public health research agenda. A total of 110 participants represented diverse scientific disciplines from over 35 countries and global public health implementing partners. The conference used a laddered discussion sprint methodology by rotating participant teams, and a managed follow-up process was used to assemble a research agenda based on the discussion and structured expert feedback. This resulted in a five-workstream frame of the research agenda for infodemic management and 166 suggested research questions. The participants then ranked the questions for feasibility and expected public health impact. The expert consensus was summarized in a public health research agenda that included a list of priority research questions. Results: The public health research agenda for infodemic management has five workstreams: (1) measuring and continuously monitoring the impact of infodemics during health emergencies; (2) detecting signals and understanding the spread and risk of infodemics; (3) responding and deploying interventions that mitigate and protect against infodemics and their harmful effects; (4) evaluating infodemic interventions and strengthening the resilience of individuals and communities to infodemics; and (5) promoting the development, adaptation, and application of interventions and toolkits for infodemic management. Each workstream identifies research questions and highlights 49 high priority research questions. Conclusions: Public health authorities need to develop, validate, implement, and adapt tools and interventions for managing infodemics in acute public health events in ways that are appropriate for their countries and contexts. Infodemiology provides a scientific foundation to make this possible. This research agenda proposes a structured framework for targeted investment for the scientific community, policy makers, implementing organizations, and other stakeholders to consider.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Article numbere30979
JournalJMIR Infodemiology
Volume1
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - Dec 2021

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
The authors would like to acknowledge the support and participation of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention; the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention; the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control. The authors would like to thank the WHO EPI-WIN team members for their contributions to the ideation of this work, and Bernardo Mariano, WHO Director of Digital Health and Innovation, for supporting and advocating for this interdisciplinary public health innovation work. Special thanks to the conference support team: Romana Rauf, Zerthun Alemu Belay, Cleila Antonel, Sam Bradd, André Buell, Olga Fradkina, and Hermjona Gjyla.

Funding Information:
AA, EA, JNA, SB, SCB, CC, JL, RL, AM, PNN, TN, TDP, AR, and BY are staff of the World Health Organization; NA, AI, AK, SK, PP, DP, and EW are staff members of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; LE and AW are staff members of the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control. RH is staff of UNICEF. These authors alone are responsible for the views expressed in this paper, and they do not represent the views of their organizations. BS participated in the conference while being staff of WHO. SB consults for WHO in data analysis for emergency preparedness and supported the work described in the paper during his consultancy contract. IB is Director of WHO Collaborating Center on information systems for health, which supports WHO with broader digital health analytics and policy analysis. The center has supported Pan American Health Organization (PAHO)/WHO with infodemic analytics during COVID-19. LMB works for Immunize Canada/Canadian Public Health Association, which has received educational grants/funding from Merck Canada, Pfizer Canada, Pfizer Global, Moderna Canada, Seqirus, Sanofi Canada, GSK Canada and the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC). These funds are not related to the paper. AB has received funding from Carlsberg Foundation for a research project about online hostility for which she is project co-primary investigator. This project is not related to the deliberation described in this publication.

Publisher Copyright:
© JMIR Publications Inc. All rights reserved.

Keywords

  • COVID-19
  • Infodemic
  • SARS-CoV-2
  • access to information
  • attitudes
  • beliefs
  • communications media
  • community resilience
  • disinformation
  • evidence synthesis
  • infodemic management
  • infodemiology
  • information literacy
  • information-seeking behavior
  • internet
  • knowledge translation
  • message amplification
  • misinformation
  • research agenda
  • research policy
  • risk communication

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'A Public Health Research Agenda for Managing Infodemics: Methods and Results of the First WHO Infodemiology Conference'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this