Elisabeth Wilhelm
Health Communications Specialist
Demand for Immunization team, Global Immunization Division
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention USA
Videos, graphic and speaker materials: Preconference event: https://www.who.int/teams/risk-communication/infodemic-management/pre-conference-1st-who-infodemiology-conference
Conference: https://www.who.int/teams/risk-communication/infodemic-management/1st-who-infodemiology-conference
Post-conference webinar: https://www.who.int/teams/risk-communication/infodemic-management/post-conference-1st-who-infodemiology-conference
Scientists can help us better address the infodemic. On June 29, WHO began the world’s first global infodemiology conference, where more than 11,000 individuals tuned in from around the world to hear from headline talk by David Nabarro, followed by public health and behavior change communication experts, fact checkers, journalists, and computer scientists and their work to address the COVID-19 infodemic. After this public pre-conference, a closed session took place for scientists and researchers and stakeholders from 33 countries, 55% female and from more than 20 disciplines. The infodemic has become too complex to be addressed by a single discipline, or wrestled into a single dashboard or be resolved with a single intervention. A complex epidemic of misinformation requires a multidisciplinary response and informed by the language of epidemiology. The working session will produce a public health research agenda for managing infodemics, an infodemiology glossary, and start a community of research.