The #monkepox noise on social media highlights the challenges of responsible health communication

The ongoing noise on social media after the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the monkeypox multi-country outbreak is a ‘Public Health Emergency of International Concern’ (PHEIC) is a clear example of the challenges our world faces when it comes to health communication. 

A quick look at the #monkepox hashtag is enough to realise that instead of a collective discussion on how to prevent the spread of the virus or help those affected by it has fragmented into a myriad of politicised narratives that I’d rather overlook here to focus on my argument. 

While my argument is far from straightforward (and what is these days?), the problem is somehow evidenced by the latest WHO statement that members within the International Health Regulations Emergency Committee ‘did not reach a consensus regarding their advice’.

Digital communication platforms hinder focused health communication

If we were in a world where public discussions about health were mostly mediated by mainstream media, we would be able to expect attention to focus on the arguments in support and not in support of the prospective determination of a PHEIC systematically outlined by the WHO Director-General in the Conclusions section of its 23 July statement. 

Processes of discursive fragmentation like the one going on around monkeypox adds to the complexity that Schiavo identifies when defining the role of health communication in ‘encouraging and supporting people to adopt and sustain healthy behaviors, or policymakers and professionals to introduce new policies and practices, or health care professionals to provide adequate and culturally competent care’. 

What happens instead is that, in the hybrid system of digital communication that exists today, the wide array of actors that enter the competition to frame the significance of health emergencies (such as #monkeypox at the moment) shatters the possibility of public conversation.

With the fragments apart, conditions for mis- and disinformation, or simply the accelerating rate at which individuals become put off subjects, contaminate the conditions for focused and sustained attention.

This is not to say some remarkable voices that use digital communication to promote dialogue don't exist as the screenshot included in this post suggests. One of the challenges for health communicators is to explore forms through which the visibility of such voices can be highlighted.