Social media: health professionals and citizens

Christine McNab , Independent consultant, Coogee, NSW, Australia.
Correspondence to Christine McNab (e-mail: christinemcnab@gmail.com).

Bulletin of the World Health Organization 2009;87:566-566. doi: 10.2471/BLT.09.066712

Timely, accessible and credible health information is critical for improving public health outcomes, whether to help people take action during an outbreak or to prevent illness.^1,2 Increased access to the Internet and mobile communication combined with strategic uses of social media can bring public health information to many more people, more quickly and directly than at any time in history.

Access to information and communication technology (ICT) is growing every year in all regions of the world. About one in four people globally are using the Internet.^3,4 It’s a United Nations Millennium Development Goal target and the World Summit of the Information Society has vowed “to connect villages … health centres and hospitals with ICTs” by 2015.⁵ As access improves, people are increasingly using the Internet to find health information.^6,7/.../