"This brief sets out practical considerations relating to flows of information, misinformation and disinformation though online media, particularly social media networks, in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. It details various types of online media, key players and influencers on social media, a ... nd strategies for ensuring good information and disrupting mis- and disinformation. It is important to analyse different types of information across different channels, how it is spread and to whom, in order to determine how social media can be harnessed in both positive and negative ways. The WHO recommends proactive communication during a public health emergency that, “encourages the public to adopt protective behaviours, facilitates heightened disease surveillance, reduces confusion and allows for better allocation of resources – all of which are necessary for an effective response”. With its global influence, social media requires particular consideration during times of public health emergencies and was highlighted as a key issue by the Social Science Working Group of WHO’s Global Research Roadmap for COVID-19. Timely, accurate communication through all media sources is a critical component of ensuring trust in response activities." (Page 1) more

"This paper provides an overview of the role radio broadcasting can play in promoting better health for poor people. It has been conceptualised within the context of global efforts to reduce the burden of disease and ill health on poor people and advocates a people-centred and rights-based approach ... to health communications that emphasises: working with poor communities to gain an understanding of the full range of epidemiological, behavioural and risk taking factors that drive disease and ill health; designing communication initiatives that build on such interactions and which integrate social assessment data into communication outputs at all levels; multi-method approaches, i.e. a mix of interpersonal (peer education, counselling, etc.) and advocacy-based approaches combined with mass and community-based media interventions; community driven and led interventions that help the ‘vulnerable’ and ‘at risk’ to access useful and useable health information and build knowledge for social and behavioural change; poor people’s rights to information, freedom of expression and access to health services and education." (Executive summay) more