WHO to partner with Wikimedia Foundation to prevent disinformation such as '5G spreads new corona' and 'prevents infection with garlic'



Numerous hoaxes have spread about the new coronavirus infection (COVID-19), and the situation is so serious that there are cases of death. The World Health Organization (WHO) has announced that it has partnered with the Wikimedia Foundation, the operator of Wikipedia, with the aim of preventing the spread of disinformation and providing people with the correct knowledge.

The World Health Organization and Wikimedia Foundation expand access to trusted information about COVID-19 on Wikipedia
https://www.who.int/news/item/22-10-2020-the-world-health-organization-and-wikimedia-foundation-expand-access-to-trusted-information-about-covid-19- on-wikipedia

The World Health Organization and Wikimedia Foundation expand access to trusted information about COVID-19 on Wikipedia – Wikimedia Foundation
https://wikimediafoundation.org/news/2020/10/22/world-health-organization-and-wikimedia-foundation-expand-access/

Wikipedia and WHO Join to Combat Covid Misinformation --The New York Times
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/22/health/wikipedia-who-coronavirus-health.html



With the popularity of COVID-19, various hoaxes have spread. As a result, in the United Kingdom, there were multiple incidents in which 5G radio towers were set on fire by people who believed in the rumor that '5G is spreading COVID-19', and in Iran where drinking is legally prohibited, 'drinking Twenty-seven people who believed that they were effective against the new coronavirus died of methanol poisoning after drinking moonshine. Behind the scenes of such hoaxes, it is also reported that the conspiracy theorist group ' QAnon ' praising the Trump administration is dying, and Facebook and Twitter are being forced to remove QAnon related groups.

WHO is also busy responding to the fact that the hoax has caused serious deaths. 'WHO epidemiologists are fed up with me because they are constantly asking me to write an article explaining why 5G doesn't spread the bat virus,' said Andrew Pattison of WHO. To the extent that he says.

WHO has announced a new collaboration with the Wikimedia Foundation, saying that disseminating the correct information about the new coronavirus will offset the effects of misinformation.

Under this agreement, many of WHO's materials will be treated as ' Wikimedia Commons ', and anyone can retranslate and reuse the materials without obtaining permission if it is clearly stated that they are WHO materials. I will.

'Fair access to reliable health information gives people knowledge and security,' commented WHO Secretary-General Tedros Adhanom.

With this agreement, Wikimedia Commons has already released 'an infographic that gathers correct knowledge about disinformation of COVID-19'. A total of 30 infographics at the time of writing, such as 'COVID-19 cannot be prevented by adding pepper to soup', 'COVID-19 cannot be killed with a hand dryer', 'COVID-19 cannot be spread by shoes', etc. You can feel that there are many variations of incorrect information.

Category: World Health Organization COVID-19 Disinformation Infographics --Wikimedia Commons
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:World_Health_Organization_COVID-19_Disinformation_Infographics



In the future, in addition to COVID-19, WHO is also considering providing materials to Wikimedia Commons for other diseases such as AIDS, Ebola, influenza, and polio.

in Web Service, Posted by darkhorse_log