UNESCO, WHO decry spate of disinformation on Covid-19 pandemic

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) and the World Health Organization have decried spate of misleading information surrounding the covid-19 pandemic.

This was stated in a webinar monitored by the DailyTimes on Tuesday in Abuja.

Troops dislodge Boko Haram terrorists in different locations within North East

Speaking on the theme entitled ‘Overriding Influence of Dis/Misinformation on the COVID-19 pandemic,’ a senior lecturer of the University of Lagos and resource person in the Global Alliance for Partnership on Media and Information Literacy (GAPMIL), UNESCO, and Media and Information Literacy Coalition of Nigeria (MILCON), Dr Olunifesi Suraj expressed the need to engage the media and information literate citizens to educate and impact knowledge of covid-19 to people.

He said, ” In today’s information economy, information is never neutral, so also are the media through which it is propagated. Hence, we must come to accept the fact that information is not knowledge and that an informed citizen might not necessarily be a knowledgeable citizen.

”More so, a literate citizen does not automatically transform into an educated citizen. Knowledge must guide information. Knowledge is light and as the sages say, forever it will be the light to guide humanity. We ought to share knowledge and not information.

”Therefore, the obvious way to combat infodemic in the era of COVID-19 pandemic is through knowledge. If we could get “educated people” and not mere “literate or informed people” to share their knowledge rather than what they are informed, we would have been able to tame the infodemic monster efficiently and substantially tackle the pandemic effectively.

”This calls again for the educated citizen. It calls for knowledgeable citizen as against informed citizens. Re-echoing the world of J.F Kennedy, “…but the educated citizens know how much more there is to know. He knows that knowledge is power – more so today than ever before.”

Citing different examples of the different narratives of the Covid-19 pandemic, Dr. Suraj advised that mainstream media should not gate-keep truths concerning covid-19 information dissemination and ignore promoting information disorder (disinformation, misinformation and mal-information) by pushing out a single narrative.

In his opening remarks, Mr Ydo Yao, the Director-General of UNESCO Regional Office, Abuja, said containing the spread of coronavirus disease could be jeopardised by misinformation.

Yao said UNESCO was empowering media practitioners and citizens through its Media and Information Literacy (MIL) programme that is targeted at developing skills to evaluate the information they get.

Dr Dhamari Naidoo, Technical Officer for Laboratory Strengthening at the WHO, said that WHO has partnered with social media platforms like Facebook, TikTok and others to ensure that the right information is shared via these platforms.

Arabic, English, French and Spanish languages have also been launched in collaboration with WhatsApp and Facebook.

She noted that while the research on treatment for coronavirus is still ongoing, “WHO is supporting countries through solidarity and Access to COVID-19 Tools (ACT) accelerative measures.’.

Also speaking, the National Programme Officer, UN Women, Mrs Patience Ekeoba, advised that women, especially in rural communities, should partner local influencers and network for awareness on the right information.

Speaking to the DailyTimes, David Osaghae, Chairperson UNESCO Youth Forum, Nigeria applauded the webinar by the UNESCO Regional Office Abuja Bureau.

Osaghae also commended the efforts of the Communication & Information Sector of the bureau for conforming to the ‘UNESCO Operational Strategy for Youth (2014-2021)’ by engaging youth as responsible social actors and innovators in its projects and initiatives across Nigeria.

Giving instances, he stated youths’ strategic role in the development and implementation of the UNESCO-backed Media & Information Literacy Coalition of Nigeria (MILCON) among others.