and feedback in real time to inform efforts to build resilience in health systems, prevent, identify and respond to disease outbreaks.
Popular social media platforms can also be used to share contextually relevant content in local languages to reach last-mile communities, fundraise for health programmes, drum up support for African-led convenings and knowledge-sharing platforms, and strengthen the health workforce by providing access to information at relatively low cost, thereby supporting efforts to increase the number of trained health workers, especially at primary care level.
This is especially critical at a time when the cost of travelling to global health conferences often excludes health practitioners from low- and middle-income countries.By using these platforms to bring conversations about health closer to the people, we can make global health a less abstract concept and a subject of interest to the ordinary African. We can help our people understand what is happening, why it matters and how they can participate to reach the desired outcomes.
This is especially valuable in a culture that still cherishes community over individualism — where the ideals ofTo be human is to desire connection, and social media offers those of us in global health ways to listen, engage and build meaningful connections with the communities we aim to serve.— imagine what we could achieve if we unleashed its power to drive the continent’s health revolution.