Infox epidemic

Social networks, blogs, websites... Keeping abreast of the Covid-19 pandemic has never been easier - or more complex. A team of researchers has examined the different types of information that have been circulating in Africa since the epidemic began, and warns of their health risks.

Yakobchuk Olena - stock.adobe.com

Not quite info, not quite intox, that's theinfox. " Usually defined as information whose origin is not explicit and which is not validated by an institution, most often disseminated by social networks and media in the form of short videos, texts or simple images sometimes accompanied by comments ", defines Alice Desclaux, health anthropologist at the TransVIHMI* laboratory. Rarely completely right or completely wrong, " it can also be information that takes on a false meaning when taken out of context, hasty generalizations or subjective interpretations presented as facts ", adds the researcher.

These infoxes circulated by the thousands from the start of the Covid-19 epidemic, particularly in Africa where there are sometimes as many telephones as inhabitants and where "social networks are very important. Whatsapp is the most widely used communication application in French-speaking Africa ", explains the anthropologist. Why so many infomercials? " In a crisis situation, their transmission may be motivated by the desire to share the meaning we give to an event in an atmosphere of anxiety, to spread our ideas about the epidemic, or to publicize a means of prevention or "the" treatment that everyone is hoping for ".

Infodemia

Faced with this information epidemic - or "infodemia", as the WHO calls it - the pandemic response mechanisms have tried to identify fake news in order to refute it and provide people with accurate information. " To do this, it was first necessary to understand the context, meaning and scope of these infoxes. CORAF research project (Coronavirus-Africa) research project, part of the ARIACOV program ", explains Alice Desclaux.

The researchers began by describing the impact of chloroquine-related infomercials, illustrating the potential effects of the globalization of social media information in Africa. In Cameroon and in all the countries surveyed, demand for chloroquine increased in pharmacies when the first case of Covid-19 was announced. "In addition, people were quick to stock up on chloroquine on the informal market, buying derivatives with a variety of compositions, very different from the hydroxychloroquine promoted by some doctors to treat Covid-19 ", says Alice Desclaux.

A risky business, with out-of-date or falsified products in circulation. " We alerted the health authorities to the risk of self-medication with chloroquine derivatives, perceived as a miracle drug ". The anthropologist points to a situation where the risk of medication can be added to the risk of infection, and go " under the radar" in times of health crisis.

Recommendations

For the researchers, the "textbook case" of chloroquine shows that infomercials can have concrete deleterious effects on the health of populations in African countries. "Alice Desclaux concludes: "The rapid circulation of medical information, which not only crosses continents but also moves from an academic space where knowledge is tightly codified to the vast, uncontrolled space of the digital media and networks, poses a real challenge to public health authorities, and not just in Africa. In fact, this is one of her recommendations: that scientifically accurate and ethically acceptable medical information be promoted more widely on globalized media and social networks.