How to Build an Infodemic Insights Report in 6 Steps

"Infodemic insights are critical in understanding the information environment driving narratives during an emergency." - Dr. Sylvie Briand, Director, Epidemic and Pandemic Preparedness and Prevention, WHO

An infodemic is defined as an overabundance of information, accurate or not, in the digital and physical space accompanying an acute health event such as an outbreak or epidemic. Infodemic insights are developed through a compilation of narratives across various data sources, often using social listening, and they are shared in the form of "insights reports". In response to the need to understand the health information environment and help health workers better communicate and engage with the public to encourage healthy behaviours, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) created this manual and accompanying tools for analysts who conduct social listening to develop infodemic insights reports. The infodemic monitoring, analysis, and reporting processes that are described in this manual can be applied to a large range of health- and development-related topics.

Written for people working on digital analytics, digital health, communications, behavioural science, health information analysis, health promotion, emergency response, and related areas, the manual offers an evidence-based and reproducible process. This process involves performing integrated analysis across online and offline datasets to produce infodemic insights and recommendations for action to improve public health. The steps are:

1. Choose the question that infodemic management insights could help to answer - For example: Despite widespread availability of vaccines and strong recommendations for people in Community X to get vaccinated, why is Community X still undervaccinated?
2. Identify and select the data sources and develop an analysis plan for each data source - Begin by identifying data sources that will help you: respond to your question of concern, understand the information environment that your population of interest lives in, learn how this population seeks health information, and determine what their health behaviours are.
3. Conduct an integrated analysis across those data sources - The analysis plan for each data source will help to yield intelligence, which when analysed alongside intelligence from the other data sources, will yield integrated insights, forming the basis of the recommendations to be used in the insights report.
4. Develop strategies and recommendations - Of note: An insights report should be useful to multiple stakeholders, who can see their role in the report and recommendations.
5. Develop an infodemic insights report - Such a report is a synthesis of what has been learned from evaluating data sources, including intelligence, the implications this has for a health or emergency programme, and recommendations for actions or strategies. It  can be used during an emergency response or for routine health programming.
6. Disseminate the infodemic insights report and track the actions taken - "An insights report is only as strong as its circulation and the willingness and ability of its stakeholders to act on the insights and recommendations." Guidance is offered.

Each chapter of the manual is dedicated to explaining one step of this process and is accompanied by printable and electronically fillable templates and worksheets. At the end of the manual, annexes provide support for common tasks, reference materials, and relevant resources and tools. After the annexes, there are topic-specific appendices that serve as short topic guides, which can be used separately as handouts for analysts working in specific health contexts. They focus on:

• zero-dose children
• polio
• seasonal influenza
• vaccine safety events
• mass gathering events

Training materials are also available as a companion to this manual to help teach this process to others.

The infodemic insights manual will be launched at a global webinar by Dr. Sylvie Briand (WHO) and Dr. Ephrem T. Lemango (UNICEF) on July 13 2023 (click here in order to register), followed by two insights manual advanced topics webinars on July 20 2023 (click here in order to register).

This manual is accompanied by courses on the OpenWHO "Infodemic management" channel; additional courses are available on the UNICEF Agora platform. For a list of resources, tools, research papers, events, and other information relevant to infodemic managers, subscribe to the WHO infodemic management news flash.