8.F. Round table: European experiences on infodemic management
Authors:   Organised by: PHIRI, EUPHA-PHMR, WHO EPI WIN, Sciensano (Belgium),   Chair persons: Petronille Bogaert (EUPHA-PHMR), Tim Nguyen (WHO/Europe)
Published: October 2021

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected our lives in many ways, including the way we consume, produce and react to information. Underlining that the world is facing a rapid amplification and circulation of accurate but also low quality and false information, the UN Secretary-General and the Director-General of the World Health Organization both declared that we are currently fighting an infodemic in the same way as we are fighting a pandemic. An infodemic is an overload of information-some accurate, some not-that spreads alongside an epidemic in the digital and physical space. The infodemic makes it difficult for people to find reliable, timely and high quality information and enact health behaviours to protect themselves and their communities. Due to the complex nature of the information ecosystem our societies and communities live in, an infodemic cannot be prevented, but it can be managed to reduce harm to individual, community and population health, support social cohesion and trust in emergency response and interventions. Infodemic management, analogous to epidemic management, is an evidence-based practice in detecting, characterising, responding and managing the infodemic and its harmful effects. During the COVID-19 crisis, public health authorities have been challenged in the way they communicate with the public, engage with communities in infodemic response, providing the scientific evidence, the day-to-day facts and figures. However, public health messages and content are unable to compete with engaging, emotive and evocative content, often of low quality or even false, shared on social media, closed messaging apps. Although often public authorities have not received a specific training on infodemic, and oftentimes expertise needed is scattered across the health and government sector, for many infodemic management has become an integral part of their job and a challenge to address. Within PHIRI, the Population Health Information Research Infrastructure, best available evidence for research on health and well-being of populations as impacted by COVID-19 is generated and facilitated. It supports exchange of expertise across Europe in the area of infodemic management as well. This workshop aims to share the experiences with infodemic management during the pandemic. It will be organised as a round table, starting by setting the scene with an introduction to key infodemic concepts. Then experiences from different perspectives (public health authorities, patients, digital and health literacy) will be shared through a panel discussion. Speakers will present on how they have experienced the challenge of the infodemic and how they approached its management during the crisis with practical examples. Participants will have the opportunity to interact with the panellists and to ask questions. Key take home messages from the panellist and a selection of tools participants can use in their own infodemic management activities will be provided as a conclusion.

Speakers/Panelists

Tina Purnat European Center for Disease Prevention and Control, Solna, Sweden Neville Calleja Department of Health Information and Research, G'Mangia, Malta Anna-Leena Lohiniva Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare, Helsinki, Finland Kaisa Immonen European Patients' Forum, Brussels, Belgium Orkan Okan Bielefeld University, Bielefeld, Germany

Key messages

Evidence-based metrics and interventions are needed to respond to the infodemic and reduce harm from misinformation. Whole of society approach is also needed to manage the infodemic. Experience sharing is essential in this nascent practice. Partnership is needed across the health system and society. We can also be our own infodemic managers and promote information hygiene.