in M. Yano et al. (eds.), Socio-Life Science and the COVID-19 Outbreak, Economics, Law, and Institutions in Asia Pacific, 2022
In parallel with the COVID-19 pandemic, an infodemic-an information epidemic-challenges human pop... more In parallel with the COVID-19 pandemic, an infodemic-an information epidemic-challenges human populations across the planet. Often framed as an enemy to be conquered, infodemics endanger public health because inaccurate or erroneous information spreads quickly on a large scale, triggers potentially harmful behaviours, and generates stress and anxiety. Much infodemics research privileges the investigation of online information creation and circulation, as well as measures to counter erroneous information. Less examined, however, are the offline effects of an infodemic. This chapter surveys how infodemic analysts have evaluated interactions between online information and offline practice. It examines studies focusing on the harmful content of the online informational ecosystem and containment efforts, and then explores social sciences contributions, which broadly identify factors contributing to public interpretation and offline practices. We conclude with a concrete example of an anthropological study exploring the interplay of online information and offline practice during the COVID-19 pandemic.
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pathogens are increasingly resistant to most locally available antibiotics. To guide efforts to optimize
antibiotic use to limit antibiotic resistance, we quantified healthcare providerespecific and communitywide
antibiotic use.
Methods: From household surveys, we estimated monthly healthcare visit rates by provider. From
healthcare visit exit surveys, we estimated prevalence, defined daily doses, and access/watch/reserve distribution
of antibiotic use by provider. Combining both, we estimated community-wide antibiotic use rates.
Results: Of 88.7 (95% CI 81.9e95.4) healthcare visits per 1000 person-months (n ¼ 31221), visits to
private clinics (31.0, 95% CI 30.0e32.0) and primary health centres (25.5, 95% CI 24.6e26.4) were most
frequent. Antibiotics were used during 64.3% (95% CI 55.2e73.5%, 162/224) of visits to private clinics,
51.1% (95% CI 45.1e57.2%, 245/469) to health centres, and 48.8% (95% CI 44.4e53.2%, 344/454) to medicine
stores. Antibiotic defined daily doses per 1000 inhabitants per day varied between 1.75 (95% CI 1.02
e2.39) in rural Kimpese and 10.2 (95% CI 6.00e15.4) in (peri) urban Kisantu, mostly explained by differences
in healthcare utilisation (respectively 27.8 versus 105 visits per 1000 person-months), in
particular of private clinics (1.23 versus 38.6 visits) where antibiotic use is more frequent. The fraction of
Watch antibiotics was 30.3% (95% CI 24.6e35.9%) in private clinics, 25.6% (95% CI 20.2e31.1%) in medicine
stores, and 25.1% (95% CI 19.0e31.2%) in health centres. Treatment durations <3 days were more frequent
at private clinics (5.3%, 9/169) and medicine stores (4.1%, 14/338) than at primary health centres (1.8%, 5/
277).
Discussion: Private healthcare providers, ubiquitous in peri-urban settings, contributed most to
community-wide antibiotic use and more frequently dispensed Watch antibiotics and shortened antibiotic
courses. Efforts to optimize antibiotic use should include private providers at community level.
method to increase vaccination uptake. The process of cultivating dialogue is
shaped by the context in which it occurs, yet the development of interventions
addressing vaccine hesitancy with dialogue often overlooks the role of context and
favors relatively fixed solutions. This reflexive paper shares three key lessons related
to context for dialogue-based interventions. These lessons emerged during a
participatory research project to develop a pilot intervention to create open
dialogue among healthcare workers in Belgium about COVID-19 vaccination
concerns. Through a mixed methods study consisting of in-depth interviews,
focus group discussions, and surveys, we engaged healthcare workers in the
design, testing, and evaluation of a digital platform featuring text-based and
video-based (face-to-face) interactions. The lessons are: (1) what dialoguemeans,
entails, and requires can vary for a population and context, (2) inherent tension
exists between helping participants voice (and overcome) their concerns and
exposing them to others’ ideas that may exacerbate those concerns, and (3)
interactional exchanges (e.g., with peers or experts) that matter to participants
may shape the dialogue in terms of its content and form. We suggest that having
a discovery-orientation—meaning to work not only inductively and iteratively
but also reflexively—is a necessary part of the development of dialogue-based
interventions. Our case also sheds light on the influences between: dialogue
topic/content, socio-political landscape, population, intervention aim, dialogue
form, ethics, researcher position, and types of interactional exchanges.
support to vulnerable populations and front-line
health
responders to the COVID-19 pandemic. The French
Red Cross (FRC) is prominent among organisations
offering health and support services in the current crisis.
Comprised primarily of lay volunteers and some trained
health workers, FRC volunteers in the Paris (France) region
have faced challenges in adapting to pandemic conditions,
working with sick and vulnerable populations, managing
limited resources and coping with high demand for their
services. Existing studies of volunteers focus on individual,
social and organisational determinants of motivation, but
attend less to contextual ones. Public health incertitude
about the COVID-19 pandemic is an important feature of
this pandemic. Whether and how uncertainty interacts with
volunteer understandings and experiences of their work
and organisational relations to contribute to Red Cross
worker motivation is the focus of this investigation.
Methods and analysis This mixed-methods
study will
investigate volunteer motivation using ethnographic
methods and social network listening. Semi-structured
interviews and observations will illuminate FRC volunteer
work relations, experiences and concerns during the
pandemic. A questionnaire targeting a sample of Paris
region volunteers will allow quantification of motivation.
These findings will iteratively shape and be influenced
by a social media (Twitter) analysis of biomedical and
public health uncertainties and debates around COVID-19.
These tweets provide insight into a French lay public’s
interpretations of these debates. We evaluate whether and
how socio-political
conditions and discourses concerning
COVID-19 interact with volunteer experiences, working
conditions and organisational relations to influence
volunteer motivation. Data collection began on 15 June
2020 and will continue until 15 April 2021.
Ethics and dissemination The protocol has received
ethical approval from the Institut Pasteur Institutional
Review Board (no 2020-03). We will disseminate findings
through peer-reviewed
articles, conference presentations
and recommendations to the FRC.
in the Lake Chilwa Region (Malawi) targeting fish dependent communities. Three strategies for the second
vaccine dose delivery (including delivery by a community leader and self-administration) were used
to facilitate vaccine access.
This assessment collected vaccine perceptions and opinions about the OCV campaign of 313 study participants,
including: fishermen, fish traders, farmers, community leaders, and one health and one NGO
officer. Socio-demographic surveys were conducted, In Depth Interviews and Focus Group Discussions
were conducted before and during the campaign.
Some fishermen perceived the traditional delivery strategy as reliable but less practical. Delivery by
traditional leaders was acceptable for some participants while others worried about traditional leaders
not being trained to deliver vaccines or beneficiaries taking doses on their own. A slight majority of beneficiaries
considered the self-administration strategy practical while some beneficiaries worried about
storing vials outside of the cold chain or losing vials. During the campaign, a majority of participants preferred
receiving oral vaccines instead of injections given ease of intake and lack of pain. OCV was perceived
as efficacious and safe. However, a lack of information on how sero-protection may be delayed
and the degree of sero-protection led to loss of trust in vaccine potency among some participants who
witnessed cholera cases among vaccinated individuals.
OCV campaign implementation requires accompanying communication on protective levels, less than
100% vaccine efficacy, delays in onset of sero-protection, and out of cold chain storage.
pathogens are increasingly resistant to most locally available antibiotics. To guide efforts to optimize
antibiotic use to limit antibiotic resistance, we quantified healthcare providerespecific and communitywide
antibiotic use.
Methods: From household surveys, we estimated monthly healthcare visit rates by provider. From
healthcare visit exit surveys, we estimated prevalence, defined daily doses, and access/watch/reserve distribution
of antibiotic use by provider. Combining both, we estimated community-wide antibiotic use rates.
Results: Of 88.7 (95% CI 81.9e95.4) healthcare visits per 1000 person-months (n ¼ 31221), visits to
private clinics (31.0, 95% CI 30.0e32.0) and primary health centres (25.5, 95% CI 24.6e26.4) were most
frequent. Antibiotics were used during 64.3% (95% CI 55.2e73.5%, 162/224) of visits to private clinics,
51.1% (95% CI 45.1e57.2%, 245/469) to health centres, and 48.8% (95% CI 44.4e53.2%, 344/454) to medicine
stores. Antibiotic defined daily doses per 1000 inhabitants per day varied between 1.75 (95% CI 1.02
e2.39) in rural Kimpese and 10.2 (95% CI 6.00e15.4) in (peri) urban Kisantu, mostly explained by differences
in healthcare utilisation (respectively 27.8 versus 105 visits per 1000 person-months), in
particular of private clinics (1.23 versus 38.6 visits) where antibiotic use is more frequent. The fraction of
Watch antibiotics was 30.3% (95% CI 24.6e35.9%) in private clinics, 25.6% (95% CI 20.2e31.1%) in medicine
stores, and 25.1% (95% CI 19.0e31.2%) in health centres. Treatment durations <3 days were more frequent
at private clinics (5.3%, 9/169) and medicine stores (4.1%, 14/338) than at primary health centres (1.8%, 5/
277).
Discussion: Private healthcare providers, ubiquitous in peri-urban settings, contributed most to
community-wide antibiotic use and more frequently dispensed Watch antibiotics and shortened antibiotic
courses. Efforts to optimize antibiotic use should include private providers at community level.
method to increase vaccination uptake. The process of cultivating dialogue is
shaped by the context in which it occurs, yet the development of interventions
addressing vaccine hesitancy with dialogue often overlooks the role of context and
favors relatively fixed solutions. This reflexive paper shares three key lessons related
to context for dialogue-based interventions. These lessons emerged during a
participatory research project to develop a pilot intervention to create open
dialogue among healthcare workers in Belgium about COVID-19 vaccination
concerns. Through a mixed methods study consisting of in-depth interviews,
focus group discussions, and surveys, we engaged healthcare workers in the
design, testing, and evaluation of a digital platform featuring text-based and
video-based (face-to-face) interactions. The lessons are: (1) what dialoguemeans,
entails, and requires can vary for a population and context, (2) inherent tension
exists between helping participants voice (and overcome) their concerns and
exposing them to others’ ideas that may exacerbate those concerns, and (3)
interactional exchanges (e.g., with peers or experts) that matter to participants
may shape the dialogue in terms of its content and form. We suggest that having
a discovery-orientation—meaning to work not only inductively and iteratively
but also reflexively—is a necessary part of the development of dialogue-based
interventions. Our case also sheds light on the influences between: dialogue
topic/content, socio-political landscape, population, intervention aim, dialogue
form, ethics, researcher position, and types of interactional exchanges.
support to vulnerable populations and front-line
health
responders to the COVID-19 pandemic. The French
Red Cross (FRC) is prominent among organisations
offering health and support services in the current crisis.
Comprised primarily of lay volunteers and some trained
health workers, FRC volunteers in the Paris (France) region
have faced challenges in adapting to pandemic conditions,
working with sick and vulnerable populations, managing
limited resources and coping with high demand for their
services. Existing studies of volunteers focus on individual,
social and organisational determinants of motivation, but
attend less to contextual ones. Public health incertitude
about the COVID-19 pandemic is an important feature of
this pandemic. Whether and how uncertainty interacts with
volunteer understandings and experiences of their work
and organisational relations to contribute to Red Cross
worker motivation is the focus of this investigation.
Methods and analysis This mixed-methods
study will
investigate volunteer motivation using ethnographic
methods and social network listening. Semi-structured
interviews and observations will illuminate FRC volunteer
work relations, experiences and concerns during the
pandemic. A questionnaire targeting a sample of Paris
region volunteers will allow quantification of motivation.
These findings will iteratively shape and be influenced
by a social media (Twitter) analysis of biomedical and
public health uncertainties and debates around COVID-19.
These tweets provide insight into a French lay public’s
interpretations of these debates. We evaluate whether and
how socio-political
conditions and discourses concerning
COVID-19 interact with volunteer experiences, working
conditions and organisational relations to influence
volunteer motivation. Data collection began on 15 June
2020 and will continue until 15 April 2021.
Ethics and dissemination The protocol has received
ethical approval from the Institut Pasteur Institutional
Review Board (no 2020-03). We will disseminate findings
through peer-reviewed
articles, conference presentations
and recommendations to the FRC.
in the Lake Chilwa Region (Malawi) targeting fish dependent communities. Three strategies for the second
vaccine dose delivery (including delivery by a community leader and self-administration) were used
to facilitate vaccine access.
This assessment collected vaccine perceptions and opinions about the OCV campaign of 313 study participants,
including: fishermen, fish traders, farmers, community leaders, and one health and one NGO
officer. Socio-demographic surveys were conducted, In Depth Interviews and Focus Group Discussions
were conducted before and during the campaign.
Some fishermen perceived the traditional delivery strategy as reliable but less practical. Delivery by
traditional leaders was acceptable for some participants while others worried about traditional leaders
not being trained to deliver vaccines or beneficiaries taking doses on their own. A slight majority of beneficiaries
considered the self-administration strategy practical while some beneficiaries worried about
storing vials outside of the cold chain or losing vials. During the campaign, a majority of participants preferred
receiving oral vaccines instead of injections given ease of intake and lack of pain. OCV was perceived
as efficacious and safe. However, a lack of information on how sero-protection may be delayed
and the degree of sero-protection led to loss of trust in vaccine potency among some participants who
witnessed cholera cases among vaccinated individuals.
OCV campaign implementation requires accompanying communication on protective levels, less than
100% vaccine efficacy, delays in onset of sero-protection, and out of cold chain storage.