An anti-infodemic virtual center for the Americas

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Health Informatics
• Artificial Intelligence in Health

Background:

• Infodemics, or the excessive and rapid spread of health misinformation, pose significant challenges to public health.
• Existing systems struggle to effectively monitor and counter the vast volume of information and misinformation online.

Purpose of the Study:

• To establish the Pan American Health Organization/World Health Organization Anti-Infodemic Virtual Center for the Americas (AIVCA).
• To develop and deploy AI-powered tools to assist health ministries in responding to infodemics.
• To integrate artificial intelligence with human judgment for robust infodemic management.

Main Methods:

• Utilizing advanced search queries, machine learning, and AI techniques to analyze over 800 million daily social media posts for infodemic threats in English and Spanish.
• Employing the EasySearch federated search engine, AI, and knowledge management resources to identify authoritative health information sources.
• Applying behavioral science, storytelling, and information design principles for developing effective response strategies.

Main Results:

• The AIVCA is structured into three parallel teams: detection, evidence, and response, enabling a comprehensive approach to infodemic management.
• The detection team can identify emerging infodemic threats from a massive volume of social media data.
• The evidence team ensures the identification of reliable and relevant information from authoritative sources.
• The response team formulates evidence-based communication and intervention strategies.

Conclusions:

• The AIVCA provides a novel, technology-driven framework for combating health misinformation in the Americas.
• By combining AI with human expertise, the center enhances the capacity of public health institutions to manage infodemics.
• The project aims to strengthen regional health security by improving the response to health-related information crises.