Media Epidemiology, Infodemic Management, and Social and Behavior Change (EIS) Fellowship Program: A Media Health Preparedness Training for Current and Future Outbreaks

"Connecting people and science for improved health outcomes"

This report describes the Media Epidemiology, Infodemic Management, and Social and Behavior Change (EIS) Fellowship Program, a collaboration between the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, the African Field Epidemiology Network, and Breakthrough ACTION in Nigeria. This is a nine-month (October 2023 - June 2024) fellowship programme designed to equip media professionals with essential skills in basic epidemiology, infodemic management, and social and behaviour change to effectively communicate health information during disease outbreaks. Overall, the programme seeks to strengthen public health initiatives by bridging the gap between science and the public, fostering community engagement, and building a sustainable network of skilled media professionals.

As explained in the report, "Globally, disease outbreak response depends on scientific guidance by responsible authorities and commensurate compliance by affected populations. Scientific guidance has to be timely, precise and efficacious for affected populations to comply with. This is not always the case. Scientific information tends to be too complicated for affected populations to comprehend, thereby creating an information void. Also, recommendations of safety practices that often require behavior adjustments or change are often perceived by affected populations as intrusive, obstructive and disruptive to their everyday lives and culture. This environment becomes very healthy for perpetrators of misinformation. The purpose of public health communication is to empower people with the right information so that they can make informed decisions for themselves. Most people get their information from either traditional or social media and, unfortunately, the media whose responsibility is to set the agenda for public discourse are often not able to inform and educate the population, due to a lack of comprehension of scientific information, inability to distinguish between correct and false information and complexity of preventive behaviors. This complicates and prolongs outbreak response."

The Media-EIS is a response to this situation. It has been designed as a training programme to teach participants to translate scientific data accurately, counter misinformation, and promote behaviour change, ultimately enhancing Nigeria's outbreak preparedness and response capabilities. The specific objectives, as outlined in the report, are to:

1. Enhance media professionals' understanding of basic epidemiology, infodemic management, and social and behaviour change for disease outbreaks and health emergencies.
2. Leverage the role of media as sources and channels of communication to improve the public's understanding of diseases and promote preventive behaviour.
3. Enhance Nigeria's overall capacity to prevent, detect, and respond to outbreaks in line with the International Health Regulations (IHR) recommended benchmark actions for risk communication and community engagement.
4. Foster trust among the government, media, and the general population.

The approach to designing the fellowship programme has been systematic and intentional, guided by a series of strategic steps, which are outlined in the report. They include, for example, pre-testing, the development of a training methodology, a needs assessment among media professionals, a selection process for trainees, and the development of a training curriculum. In brief, the programme follows a collaborative learning approach, combining in-person and virtual training sessions, field visits, and mentorship opportunities - ensuring that fellows-in-training have the opportunity to put into practice what they learn. The selection process has been designed so that participating fellows cover various media channels and represent diverse backgrounds in order to ensure comprehensive coverage across Nigeria.

The curriculum and course structure are also explained in the report. The curriculum is divided into three tracks - epidemiology, social and behaviour change, and infodemic management - that cover the following health areas: vaccine-preventable diseases, zoonotic diseases, antimicrobial resistance (AMR), climate and environmental health, non-communicable diseases, and communicable diseases. Specific topics across the three tracks include issues such as public health surveillance, risk communication, misinformation management, audience segmentation, and storytelling for change.

The report concludes with some examples of feedback received from participants on the value of the training and field visits, as well as a confirmation of some of the programme's key benefits for the future, which include: improved health communication, timely information dissemination, enhanced trust and credibility, effective infodemic management, behaviour change promotion, and sustained capacity strengthening in health communication.