FIGHTING CORONA VIRUS WITH INFORMATION
By: Marion Apio
Corona Virus, officially a global pandemic in all continents of the world with over 22 million cases globally today (18/08/2020). World Health Organization (WHO) and governments are working behind the scenes to contain the spread of the virus through social distancing, flights bans and border closure, house lock downs and other health measures like washing hands and sanitizing.
However, the virus has also come with panic and information overflow that some people are calling ‘The Infordemic” which is taking place on people’s mobile phones through social media and mainstream media.
Whereas individuals know that the ability to access information is very important for people to fight the pandemic, this same right is abused by people sharing conspiracy theories, fake news and racist stereotypes that drag processes behind.
Mr. Davis Rwabu, a lecturer at Makerere University, and also an Information Scientist, noted that access to information is key but it can also be abused.
“The infordemic is the problem. There is a lot of false information on the corona virus. Wrong information increases the spread of the virus, breeds fear and panic and makes preventive measures unachievable,” Mr. Rwabu.
At the outbreak of corona virus, I engaged with a number of individuals in Wantoni Mukono and asked them about how the constant stream of misinformation/ information about COVID-19/Corona Virus was affecting them.
The WHO cautioned individuals against the infordemic and came out to warn against consuming media that causes anxiety and distress. I quote “Minimize watching , reading or listening to news that causes you to feel anxious or distressed; The sudden and near constant stream of news reports about an outbreak can cause anyone to feel worried. Get facts; not the rumors and misinformation. Facts can help minimize fears.
It was against this background that Media Challenge Initiative in partnership with UNESCO and TRi Facts, Africa Check, trained twenty-Six, next generation journalists on fact checking in radio, TV, print and online media in Uganda and on digital verification of information on Covid-19 pandemic.
According to UNESCO, the training, which was held on 28 and 29 July 2020, was aimed at strengthening capacities to debunk false stories related to the COVID-19 pandemic. It was also aimed at creating a new army of fact-checkers who will clarify true information about the pandemic and expose false and exaggerated claims.
Thus contribute towards countering disinformation on COVID-19 and promoting healthy behaviors, as a fundamental means to stand together and tighten bonds of shared humanity during the pandemic.
Related content:
*PANDEMIC Vs INFODEMIC*
marvob@gmail.com
01/04/2020
As the coronavirus is spreading across the world, so too has misinformation about it, and it’s threatening to make a bad situation worse.
In the middle of a global coronavirus lockdown, social media is more important than ever. With soft quarantines in place, Facebook, WhatsApp, Twitter, and other platforms are taking on an entirely new valence as the foundation for our everyday lives — a crucial conduit between families, friends, and co-workers, as well as much-needed entertainment. As we become more isolated physically, social media and the web will also have to shoulder the world’s information needs as more and more people seek timely and local information.
Just like the World Health Organization, our Ministry of Health here in Uganda is taking the Pandemic fight on a number of fronts and not so surprising is now stretching the already limited resources to the fight against the *INFODEMIC* – an overwhelming amount of information on social media and websites. Some of it accurate and some is downright untrue. Despite efforts by social media companies to stop it, false information, about not just the coronavirus alone, is proliferating around the world.
The false statements range from conspiracy theories about the origin of the virus, the intentions of its said makers, how it spreads, the number of affected or dead persons, proposed cures and prevention options, to disgusting things of the several dignitaries that are said to be infected like the story of the Queen of England and President Trump to more harmful proposed treatments like drinking bleach.
You must have seen many of these daily on your handset phones. Below are a few that we all have come across:
1. Coronavirus had been cooked up in a secret government lab in Wuhan, China.
2. Bogus medicines: Concoctions, gels, liquids and powders that immunized against the virus.
3. Alcohol especially Waragi expunges your body of the virus.
4. Burundi has no single case of infected people because they have no testing kits. A case of what you don’t know doesn’t kill you.
5. Bill Gates, the Microsoft co-founder who now runs a philanthropic organization, was behind the spread of the virus and Africa should stay away from whatever drugs he donates to the cause.
6. Italians were marching in the streets, accusing Chinese people of bringing the illness to their country.
7. The Pope has the virus that is why he is not making any public appearances at a time of need.
8. North Korea is shooting every citizen that tests positive so as to cab the spread.
9. The video of the corona virus lizard-like god ascending to the skies.
10. So recently though, not attached to the COVID-19, the passing of the current bank of Uganda Governor.
and so much more but NONE of it is true.
Dozens of videos, audios, photographs and written posts, not limited to English, continue to fill our phones reflecting the trajectory of the virus as it has travelled around the world. Video clips of old movies and TV Shows are a common sight, that are captioned with current affairs to portray what is happening around the globe. Take example of one that shows a truck dumping dead bodies in a mass grave in Italy. This is a scene from an Indian TV Show called Pandemic that aired in 2017.
If segments of the public turn to false treatments rather than follow the advice of trusted sources for avoiding illness (like frequent hand-washing with soap and water), it could cause the disease to travel further and faster than it ordinarily would have.
There could be a political agenda behind the fake coronavirus news as well, both locally and internationally. For instance, countries that are antagonistic towards China could try to hijack the conversation in hopes of creating chaos and eroding trust in the authorities, says Dr. Margaret Bourdeaux, research director for Harvard Belfer Center’s Security and Global Health Project.
Misinformation that specifically targets our health system or our leaders who are trying to manage an emergency is a way of destroying, undermining, or disrupting our already overrun health system. Assessing the impact of misinformation is complicated, and once it is politicized it can can also be overstated or understated.
Ways to tackle the Infodemic:
The WHO is working directly with tech companies on a daily basis to flag and take down bad information, and to ensure that facts from reliable sources get to users first. Because misinformation isn’t just a problem of content; it’s also one of transmission, social media companies too, have been called upon to be more responsible. They now must sort, rank, and prioritize true and reliable information more than ever. But how about you and what is your responsibility and how could you rise to the occasion? Before you share any story or update, look out for the following;
1. Verify the story — If it is a breaking story, there is a very high chance that the story is making headlines on all major news channels. If someone shares a story with me, like the Queen of England being infected, I would surely check out my BBC App first or even the The Sun newspaper App on the same. If nothing of the same shows, it is clearly a FAKE story that I ignore and sometimes end up despising the sender. The best source of information still remains from TV, radio and Newspapers.
2. Verify the link — A lot of this information contains a link to the story somewhere on the web. You can try to check out the story by clicking on the given link. If the link takes you to a page that does not exist, please DO NOT SHARE the story with your friends and family. Some of these links are a phishing gateway to stealing your personal information or breaking into the devices of people who landed on them and you should not even attempt trying them out at all.
3. Check out the date or Timestamp — Once you click on any story of interest, it is very important to check out the date the story was released. So many stories of yester-year are making rounds on social media and being regarded as current information.
4. Verify the photos, videos and the people in them — Very recently a story was viral all of social media that had the “Italian President” crying about the current health situation in Italy. As much as we all know about the dire situation in Italy, the picture used was of the President of Brazil crying about something so different.
5. Respect for Brands — Building a brand comes with great effort and because of such, companies with a good brand tend to protect their brands with their existence. However interesting a story is for me if the source is an unheard-of, I will always have second thoughts about the authenticity of the story. I will never trust rottentomatoes.com to break a story about Russia releasing 500 lions to man the Lockdown in Russia.
6. Ask from a trusted source — Some of our colleagues remain resolved to holding onto the truth. Request such people to verify a story for you before you share it to a WhatsApp group or 100 others. My mom, for instance, will always run a story by me before she shares it with her peers.
7. If its scientific, run it by a doctor or professional in the field — Currently, we have all become doctors and nutritionists of sorts. We are sharing remedies to cure or protect against the virus. The rumours offer remedies that have no basis in science. One untrue statement suggests that rubbing sesame oil on the skin will block the coronavirus. Please desist from all this “a doctor from China said this before he died” nonsense. May be if it were true he wouldn’t have died anyway.
“We need a vaccine against misinformation,” said Dr. Mike Ryan, head of WHO’s health emergencies program, at a WHO briefing on the virus in February.
Fake news can spread quickly online. A 2018 study from Massachusetts Institute of Technology found that “false news spreads more rapidly on the social network Twitter than real news does.” The reason, say the researchers, may be that the untrue statements inspire strong feelings such as fear, disgust and surprise.
There is so much inaccurate information about the virus. Misinformation does nothing but creates fear, rumors and prejudice that jeopardizes the national and global collaboration in the fight against Coronavirus. Please be responsible with your information.
*Author* : Marvin Bernard Rukundo an Information Systems Advisor with Send a Cow NGO, a Cyber Security consultant and founder of NetSoft Solutions
Mapio 
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