MSF Innovation Newsletter May 2022
Tackling the spread of health misinformation through innovation
In recent years, improved access to the internet and internet-connected devices have accelerated the adoption and use of digital technologies such as social media everywhere. For MSF, this development means a plethora of new opportunities to engage with members of the communities we support.
However, there are also several pitfalls that lie in the path of using these platforms in the diverse context where MSF works. People's access to and perception and usage of social media are highly context-specific.
The innovation team with the MSF Manson Unit launched an information ecosystem mapping project in late 2021 to assess how health information is produced, spread, and consumed (online and offline) in different communities in Bangladesh, Yemen, Malaysia, and Tajikistan. The findings will be used to design culturally and contextually appropriate digital health promotion strategies for each location.
Understanding how information flows is also critical for monitoring misinformation campaigns targeting MSF's operations. MSF Listen is an online platform designed to build an institutional memory of MSF teams' responses to misinformation and common rumours about MSF.
This edition also features a Chagas-themed comic book that MSF co-produced with the Mauricio de Sousa Institute to raise awareness about the disease and a mentoring programme in Beira, Mozambique, where MSF teams support local health staff to raise awareness about the importance and benefits of inclusive health services.
We hope you enjoy the read!
Innovation updates from the MSF movement
Information Ecosystem Mapping: A method to inform context-specific digital health promotion interventions
Our teams have traditionally provided health promotion orally or in printed format (posters, leaflets, etc.). However, MSF is now increasingly leveraging social media and other online platforms as complementary avenues for sharing information and advice on good health practices, treatment, and care.
In the fall of 2021, the MSF Manson Unit’s innovation team launched an information ecosystem mapping initiative in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh. The project was later expanded to also include communities in Yemen, Malaysia, and Tajikistan. Through this work, the team seeks to understand how health information is produced, transferred, and consumed as well as what factors influence the flow of information in each location.
The information ecosystem mapping work is now in its final stages and will be completed this spring. Insights from this work will then be used to design digital health promotion campaigns tailored for the different contexts.
Learn more about the information ecosystem mapping project here »
MSF Listen: A digital platform to monitor health misinformation
While rumours, lies, and propaganda have always existed, the social media environments that allow messages to travel far and wide in a matter of seconds are new.
To learn more about how we can tackle misinformation and disinformation targeting our operations, patients, and staff, MSF launched the ‘Tackling the information disorder’ project in early 2020. In the context of the project, the team sought out a new reporting tool for misinformation and common rumours about MSF – MSF Listen.
The platform is both an institutional memory with a response history, and a workflow, in which MSF staff can efficiently communicate about, and plan responses to, misinformation that blights their work. To date, the platform has been deployed in Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Somalia, and Bolivia.
Initially funded by MSF’s Transformational Investment Capacity (TIC), the project now sits in MSF Operational Center Amsterdam’s (OCA) operational portfolio, after a successful first 24 months.
SIU recently caught up with Jake Leyland, Misinformation Project Officer, to learn more about the TIC project and MSF Listen. Read the full interview here »
Children’s comic book to raise awareness and highlight World Chagas Disease Day
Chagas is a tropical neglected disease that affects 6-7 million people worldwide, most of them in Latin America. The disease causes approximately 14,000 deaths each year, yet around 70% of those with Chagas do not know they are infected. There is still an enormous lack of knowledge and insufficient public investment in tracking, diagnosing, and treating the disease.
To highlight the World Chagas Disease Day, on April 14, MSF-Brazil commissioned a thematic edition of one of the country’s most popular children’s comic books. The story portrayed in the “Monica and friends” comic uses accessible language to raise awareness about the disease. The publication is a result of a partnership between MSF and the Mauricio de Sousa Institute.
The Chagas-themed edition of Monica and friends is available in English and Spanish, with a Portuguese translation coming soon.
Mentoring programme in Mozambique: Improving healthcare for marginalised groups
Mozambique suffers one of the world's highest burdens of HIV, with especially high prevalence among vulnerable and stigmatised groups, such as sex workers and men who have sex with men.
In Beira, where MSF offers sexual and reproductive healthcare, our teams have received several reports that members of marginalized groups avoid going to health centres and seeking care because they are afraid of how they will be treated. In response, MSF recently launched a mentorship programme for local healthcare workers in Beira to support their work to reduce stigma and raise awareness about the importance and benefits of inclusive health services.
The mentorship programme lasts 5-10 weeks and is made up of sessions in which MSF staff accompany and provide real-time training and support to local health staff during their day-to-day activities. MSF has trained 15 healthcare workers so far in three different health centres in Beira. The mentorship programme is ongoing, with training sessions focused on advanced HIV disease, paediatric antiretroviral therapy and sexual reproductive health. Two more planned programmes will focus on nursing and laboratory skills.
Learn more about this innovative training programme here »
Upcoming event
You are invited to the MSF Scientific Days International event on 10-12 May 2022.
MSF Scientific Days brings together MSF staff, researchers, innovators, medical practitioners and patient representatives to discuss and critique the latest research and innovative practices emerging from our projects. View the agenda here »
Resource highlight
On Earth Day, April 22, MSF Korea hosted the Conference on Planetary Health: Climate Crisis and Humanitarian Impact. During the three-hour event, speakers from MSF, Save the Children Korea, the Climate Action Accelerator and beyond examined the climate emergency's impact on humanitarian and medical response. The event also explored current and future innovations for climate mitigation and adaptation.
Further reading recommendations:
A roadmap for ethical and effective technology use in the aid sector
In a commentary published by the Centre for Humanitarian Action, Giulio Coppi makes the call for a roadmap for ethical and effective use of technology in the aid sector for 2022 and beyond and ponders what discussions on policy, ethics, design, and sustainability the sector needs to have before setting out to design such a roadmap. Read more »Gender-responsive innovation: what, how and why?
Prevailing gender norms, roles and relations result in women and men facing different challenges, concerns and experiences. These have often been overlooked when developing new solutions. In this article by Innovation Norway, two members of their Humanitarian Innovation Programme, discuss what gender-responsive innovation is, why it is important, and how it can be applied. Read more »Climate monitoring through satellites: How WFP’s PRISM provides real-time impact through open-source software
In this article, part of the WFP Innovation Accelerator’s Field Focus Series, PRISM Global Programme Manager Amit Wadhwa shares updates on WFP’s climate monitoring system and talks about why it was important to make the technology open-source. Read more »How local leadership makes decision-making more relevant and contextually appropriate for humanitarian innovation
The Community-Led Innovation Partnership supports the emergence and development of locally-driven solutions to humanitarian problems in Guatemala, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Indonesia and the Philippines. In the context of this partnership, three locally-led partners, CDP, ASECSA and YEU, embarked on a process of designing their own discovery and selection processes to identify innovative individuals, ideas, and solutions within their communities. In this article, Alessandra Podestà and Seema Kapoor share reflections and learnings from this work. Read more »
In our headphones
Mental Health in Emergencies
3 episode miniseries
Host Siri Tellier examines her efforts to put mental health on the agenda during her time as the Director of the Danish Red Cross International Department (1992-2001) and discusses how mental health and psychosocial support in humanitarian settings has evolved over the last 30 years, what solutions are being implemented in the field today, and what research can tell practitioners about what works and what does not. Listen here »
DNDi: Medicine Makers Without Borders
6 episode miniseries
The Medicine Makers has launched a 6-part series on DNDi, Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative. In the series, host Angus Stewart speaks with DNDi leaders, coordinators, partners, and contributors working in the clinic, the lab, and at the computer terminals of cutting edge tech and artificial intelligence. Listen here »
Until next time 👋
As always we would love to hear of any global health innovation insights or thoughts. Anything you would like to feature in the next newsletter? Reach out with any questions or comments on comms.siu@stockholm.msf.org or simply reply to this email—we would be delighted to continue the conversation!
Best wishes,
The MSF Sweden Innovation Unit Team