Health Literacy, Equity, and Communication in the COVID-19 Era of Misinformation: Emergence of Health Information Professionals in Infodemic Management

Abstract

The health information management (HIM) field’s contribution to health care delivery is invaluable in a pandemic context where the need for accurate diagnoses will hasten responsive, evidence-based decision-making. The COVID-19 pandemic offers a unique opportunity to transform the practice of HIM and bring more awareness to the role that frontline workers play behind the scenes in safeguarding reliable, comprehensive, accurate, and timely health information. This transformation will support future research, utilization management, public health surveillance, and forecasting and enable key stakeholders to plan and ensure equitable health care resource allocation, especially for the most vulnerable populations. In this paper, we juxtapose critical health literacy, public policy, and HIM perspectives to understand the COVID-19 infodemic and new opportunities for HIM in infodemic management.

Insights Into the Relationships Between Health Communication and Doctor-patient Relationship: A Scientometric Analysis Based on CiteSpace and Validation of Questionnaires

“… 44 Different diseases often have similar symptoms, and if the diagnosis searched by patients with one of their symptoms is wrong, it is bound to be ineffective to obtain the relevant knowledge of the “disease”. Some platforms allow non-professional individuals to upload information, 45 there are differences in the quality of different social media information, 46 and there may be pseudo-health information. In addition, the health knowledge published by some medical media cites the latest literature (the purpose of marketing does not rule out), and some of the latest research results may challenge textbooks or existing traditional medical viewpoints, however, it should be noted that these studies may still be in the early experimental stage, need to be verified by larger samples, or need to be tested in different ethnic groups.…”

Global conflict escalation during the pandemic, climate, and economic dilemmas: Healthcare sustainability challenges in conflict zones and elsewhere

“…Poor health literacy still prevails in wealthy and dominant countries: Unfortunately, many European citizens lack health literacy, limiting their ability to make decisions about their own, their families', and their communities' health and well-being (WHO, Regional Committee for Europe, 2019). Even low health literacy (Figure 1) is reported in nearly 40% of US (Emerson et al, 2022) and UK adults (Public Health England, 2015); 60% of the older population in the EU (Shebehe et al, 2022); 60% of the adult populations in Canada (Kyabaggu et al, 2022); Australia (Ellender et al, 2022); the UAE (Ibrahim & Nair, 2021); and more than 70% in China (Li et al, 2022). Despite long-term improvements in health indicators like mortality and morbidity, there are still problems with the provision of healthcare in many low-and middle-income countries.…”

Healthcare Challenges due to Global Conflict Escalation Amid the Pandemic, Climate, and Economic Dilemmas

“…Unfortunately, many European citizens lack health literacy, limiting their ability to make decisions about their own, their families', and their communities' health and wellbeing (WHO, Regional Committee for Europe, 2019). Even low health literacy (Figure 2) is reported in nearly 40% of US (Emerson et al, 2022) and UK adults (Public Health England, 2015); 60% of the older population in the EU (Shebehe et al, 2022); 60% of the adult populations in Canada (Kyabaggu et al, 2022); Australia (Ellender et al, 2022); the UAE (Ibrahim & Nair, 2021); and more than 70% in China (Li et al, 2022). Despite long-term improvements in health indicators like mortality and morbidity, there are still problems with the provision of healthcare in many low-and middle-income countries.…”