The WHO Office on Quality of Care and Patient Safety in Athens not too long ago joined forces with YouTube Health to host a workshop in Berlin to reinforce the standard of well being info on-line and help Member States’ efforts on this space. This collaborative endeavour lays the groundwork to advertise well being literacy and make high-quality well being info universally accessible. 

“We are very much looking forward to working together for a world where people can access the health information they need online without having to guess its accuracy,” famous Dr Natasha Azzopardi-Muscat, Director of WHO/Europe’s Division of Country Health Policies and Systems, on the workshop. 

The position of digital platforms in well being 

The COVID-19 pandemic introduced into the highlight the outstanding position of digital platforms in disseminating health-related info and the significance of dependable info, whereas additionally exposing the potential perils of misinformation and disinformation. Data signifies that, within the WHO European Region, a big share of consultations now happen on-line, as individuals’s preliminary method is to seek for signs and medical recommendation on-line. Health-related searches make up 7% of every day on-line searches, with roughly 4 billion outcomes associated to COVID-19. 

In 2021, YouTube had over 110 billion views of well being situation movies globally and is engaged on elevating high-quality well being content material to make it simpler for individuals to determine credible info that may assist reply their questions. Commenting on the platform’s influence within the on-line house, Dr Nira Goren, Clinical Lead at YouTube Health, mentioned, “People use platforms like YouTube to seek answers to questions, such as how do I live with breast cancer or how do I take care of myself.” An growing variety of people are additionally turning to on-line platforms to share private tales, alleviate acute misery, and construct a neighborhood to assist lower emotions of isolation.

However, on-line well being info that’s inaccurate or deceptive can pose a major threat to 1’s well being. A current WHO evaluation confirmed that infodemics and misinformation negatively have an effect on individuals’s well being behaviours. The distorted understanding of well being hazards, equivalent to smoking, alcohol consumption, unhealthy consuming habits, or bodily inactivity, may end up in varied life-altering and doubtlessly deadly noncommunicable illnesses (NCDs), equivalent to most cancers or diabetes. 

Empowering well being by means of high-quality well being info on-line

High-quality well being info can empower people to take management of their well being, make knowledgeable selections about their therapy choices, and enhance their general well-being and high quality of life. With increasingly more individuals relying on the web for medical recommendation, it’s important that the knowledge out there is dependable, correct, simple to grasp, and up-to-date. Collaboration with well being care stakeholders in Member States throughout the Region is required to make sure this. It additionally requires fostering inclusive partnerships that carry collectively sufferers, well being care professionals, ministries, nongovernmental organizations, and main social media platforms.

“Social media platforms are essential instruments to enhance and disseminate high-quality well being info on-line and we should always work on that collectively, involving everybody on this course of. Our major focus ought to be to actively hearken to neighborhood considerations, promote understanding of threat and well being professional recommendation, interact and empower communities to take constructive motion, and help well being professionals and

Moreover, fostering belief in authoritative on-line well being info sources on the inhabitants stage entails working with academia and different companions to create additional scientific proof on the influence of misinformation on high quality of care, performing as a lighthouse in consolidating the creation of scientific proof. 

“Empowering communities with education is essential to helping people live healthier lives. YouTube Health is delighted to interact with WHO and authoritative health sources across Europe to increase access to evidence-based, equitable and engaging health information,” famous Dr Garth Graham, Director and Global Head, Healthcare and Public Health, YouTube.