Webinar on Overriding Influence of Dis- and Mis-Information on the COVID-19 Pandemic

According to Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the Director-General of World Health Organization (WHO), the COVID-19 pandemic is accompanied by an Infodemic, a spread of disinformation and misinformation, which makes it difficult for people to get accurate information for informed decisions. Under this crisis, as pointed out by Ms. Audrey Azoulay, the Director-General of UNESCO,

orchestrated with unethical journalism, especially through the social media.

More than ever, the society needs reliable information to adapt its response to the spread of Covid-19 and combat the increasing rumours and misinformation. As such, UNESCO as the UN Agency saddled with the promotion of freedom of expression and access to information is interested at empowering the society, with increased capacities of resilience in the face of misinformation and “fake news” that proceeded the COVID 19 epidemic.

In view of this, UNESCO Abuja with other UN Agencies is organising a Webinar on the theme: Overriding Influence of Dis- and Mis-information on the COVID-19 pandemic. The webinar is to address: 

• the urgent need to ensure access to culturally relevant and openly licensed information in order to facilitate awareness raising for informed decisions on how to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 in the country;
• build competencies, to sharpen people’s critical thinking antennae for informed decisions; focusing on prevention through balanced coverage of  issues in the media such as empathy, critical inquiry and compassion under health emergency.

Date

11:00-12:30 (Nigerian Time) of 28 April 2020, Tuesday

Venue

Join Microsoft Teams Meeting

Moderators

Olushola Macaulay (UNESCO)

Sharon Omotoso (University of Ibadan)

Ifedolapo Ademosu (Caleb University)

Jide Atta (Strategic Communication/Gender Expert)

Presentations

Opening Remarks by Ydo Yao, the Regional Director, UNESCO Abuja Office

Theme:

• Overriding Influence of dis- misinformation on the COVID- 19 Pandemic: Edward Kargbo (British Broadcasting Corporation, Ethiopia)

Sub-Themes:

• The truth about COVID-19 – Dhamari Naidoo (WHE/Laboratory, WHO)
• Leading in Crisis: COVID- 19 and Beyond – Dr. Jonathan Sandy (Strategy Consultant to African Union and ECOWAS)
• Engaging the Media and Information Literate (Educated) Citizens in the Covid-19 pandemic Narrative – Dr. Olunifesi Suraj (Senior Lecturer, UNILAG)
• The threat and impact of Fake news in the time of COVID- 19 to Africa youth – Oluwamayowa Tijani (Youth Leader)
• The impact of Mis-information on Women and Girls during Health Emergencies – Patience Ekeoba (National Programme Officer, UN WOMEN)
• Disinformation and COVID-19 - The UN perspectives – Oluseyi Soremekun (National Programme Officer, UNIC)

Notes:

• Should you have challenge in accessing the webinar with the "Join Microsoft Teams Meeting" above, please copy this link into Microsoft Edge or Google Chrome for participation: https://teams.microsoft.com/dl/launcher/launcher.html?url=%2f_%23%2fl%2fmeetup-join%2f19%3ameeting_NzgyZGE1M2ItYjJlYS00MzgwLThlMTYtMmI3MzBlNDNmMWMx%40thread.v2%2f0%3fcontext%3d%257b%2522Tid%2522%253a%25221d4fae52-39b3-4bfa-b0b3-022956b11194%2522%252c%2522Oid%2522%253a%2522c705e78a-536d-4e87-9bfe-420fd3d43138%2522%257d%26anon%3dtrue&type=meetup-join&deeplinkId=cfc12f4d-864c-4878-ae01-6a5b39c8cf11&directDl=true&msLaunch=true&enableMobilePage=true&suppressPrompt=true
• The guideline of "How to join a Microsoft Teams Meeting" can be downloaded below if needed.