Public health practitioners recount their experience of the COVID-19 infodemic: first edition

2 November 2022 at 16:00 CET-Geneva | 14:00 UTC | 11:00 EDT-Washington, DC

The infodemic has affected health professionals personally and professionally and changed the way health systems have responded to the COVID-19 pandemic. On 2 November 2022, we will showcase three Infodemic Managers to tell their own personal experiences about managing the Infodemic during the time of COVID-19.

This event is free and is brought to you in partnership with The World Health Organization (WHO) to promote science and health through more effective storytelling.

Hosted by: 

Lily Be and Kent Whipple

Stories by:

Okechi Eberechukwu Nzedibe is a Public Health Pharmacist from Nigeria. A WHO-trained Infodemic Manager. She holds a Bachelor of Pharmacy from the University of Nigeria, an MBA from the University of Liverpool, and an MSc in Public Health from the University of South Wales. She is pursuing a Ph.D. in International Public Health at Euclid University, Bangui. She is a member of the Cochrane Nigeria Advisory Board, where she provides relevant assistance and advice to Cochrane Nigeria to achieve its goals and mission. She is a member of the Association of Clinical Research Professionals (ACRP), the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria, and Boardroom Africa, among others. She is the Chief Executive Officer/Managing Director/Pharmacist of Histripes Nigeria, a manufacturing and retail pharmaceutical company. She has over 20 years of experience in leadership, operations, planning, developing and implementing procedures, product manufacturing, and management. Her practice at Histripes Pharmacy includes patient counseling, primary prevention, clinical research, pharmacy management, planning, development, implementation and human resource and supply chain management. She is the founder of ‘Health & Living,’ a health outreach offering health information, free consultations, eye checks, free and subsidized medicines, and laboratory services to communities.

Melissa Sharpe is a postdoctoral research fellow at the Royal College of Surgeons (RCSI). She joined RCSI in 2020 after completing a joint doctorate in Epidemiology from the University of Paris and University of Split, as a part of the Methods in Research on Research (MiRoR) Project, an international consortium dedicated to reducing waste in research. She also holds a Masters in Public Health in Epidemiology from Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health and a Bachelor of Science in Psychology from Michigan State University. She is based in the Department of General Practice and leads research projects on evidence synthesis and clinical guidelines. In her free time, she enjoys photography, embroidery, and yoga.

Habibat Ohunene Lawal was born in Okene, Nigeria. She is a Pharmacist by profession and works as a fulfilment operations professional and vaccine lead at Zipline in Kaduna State, Nigeria. She is part of a team that ensures every human has equal access to life saving medications by delivering these medications via drones. Her driving force and motivation is her family and they are at the core of everything she does. She is married to Andrew David Ikwuoche and has a son Joseph Onimisi Ikwuoche. She loves writing, reading novels and watching football. She is a supporter of Manchester United FC and always loves to have a good laugh.

Background

This live show is part of several online events and activities that the WHO has convened to collect and analyze stories of the impact of the COVID-19 infodemic. The project launched in July 2022, with a discussion of why storytelling is not just a tool for promoting conversations about science, but it is also a skill that every infodemic manager should have. Watch the video recording of the opening webinar about this project: 

Following our webinar, WHO launched an online infodemic management workshop to collect stories from emergency responders and health professionals who experienced and managed the COVID19 infodemic. They have gone through workshops where they sharpened their storytelling skills to communicate about infodemics, their impact and how to contribute to infodemic management practice.

The workshops received over 500 registrations from 110 countries for 80 places in four storytelling skills workshops in English, French, and Spanish. Selected participants received 6 hours of workshop training with further one-on-one coaching to develop their experiences into stories. After the month-long workshop, the participants were invited to record and submit their stories to a research project on the impacts of the COVID-19 infodemic on responders.

The stories submitted were so engaging that WHO decided to invite some of the participants to share them with a wider audience. Three live storytelling shows with three stories each are planned between November and February 2023, starting with this one.

Coming Up Next

Two more live shows, in French and in Spanish. Sign up for the WHO Infodemic management news flash to receive announcements.