Dear HIFA colleagues,
Thank you for your contributions to the discussion so far. We are now at the beginning of our 4th week, moving towards our WHO-HIFA webinar on 19 November.
What have we learned so far? What more can we learn?
Q5 asked: What sources of information about cervical cancer do people rely on? Which are helpful, and where are the gaps or weaknesses?
Here are a few extracts from our discussion so far:
Diya Banerjee Sur (India): “The best tried and tested sources are word-of-mouth, awareness sessions by locals, miking, radio, posters, school education.”
Cherian Varghese (India): “In India, people draw health information from a wide range of sources. Newspapers and magazines continue to play a major role, with articles written either by doctors or by reporters who compile information from various places... At the same time, social media has penetrated deeply into communities. This has created a new challenge: information spreads rapidly, but so does misinformation..."
Amal Abdikarim Yusuf (Somalia): “Community awareness session, antenatal and postnatal health education and engagement with community leaders can help women access reliable information and feel more comfortable asking questions about cervical cancer.”
Dr Meena Nathan Cherian (Switzerland), on traditional healers: “It is a well-known fact in LMICs that people (women) rely on the knowledge and healing power of traditional healers (TH).”
Dosso Djibril (Côte d'Ivoire), on health information and records: “In our hospitals and health centers, information regarding patients, screenings, diagnoses, and treatments constitutes a valuable resource. Yet, the management of this information often faces several challenges: medical records that remain largely paper-based, insufficient digitization, a lack of interoperability between IT systems, and the absence of appropriate mechanisms to ensure that information is preserved and retrievable over time.”
We look forward to hear from other countries. What sources of information do people rely on in your country?
I note that we used the term 'rely' here, which can either mean mean 'use frequently' or 'trust and depend on'. These are not quite the same. Also, neither are indicative of the veracity of the information. People may rely heavily on sources that provide inaccurate or misleading information. We also use the term 'helpful' which again is ambiguous - it could mean helpful in terms of being welcomed by the person (whether or not it is reliable), or it could mean helpful more objectively in terms of communicating reliable information.
So, perhaps another way of putting this question is: "Where do people in your country usually get their information about cervical cancer, and which sources do they trust most?" Also: "Are these sources reliable, or do they contribute to the spread of misinformation?"
(By the way, I was with friends yesterday evening and I was struck with how firmly they held to the belief that there is 'something wrong' with this year's flu vaccine because two people they know developed a bad cold after receiving it. I checked with the HNS website and our local pharmacist, which indicated there was no such adverse effect being reported. I shall go ahead and get my jab, but if I had been more credulous I may well have decided not to have it. Which in turn could have more serious health consequences.)
Please share your experience and expertise by email to: hifa@hifaforums.org
All inputs will be synthesised into a report to help inform future WHO advocacy.
Best wishes, Neil
HIFA profile: Neil Pakenham-Walsh is coordinator of HIFA (Healthcare Information For All), a global health community that brings all stakeholders together around the shared goal of universal access to reliable healthcare information. HIFA has 20,000 members in 180 countries, interacting in four languages and representing all parts of the global evidence ecosystem. HIFA is administered by Global Healthcare Information Network, a UK-based nonprofit in official relations with the World Health Organization. Email: neil@hifa.org