What We Learned From the Pandemic? Opportunities and Risks of Digital Technology in Future Population Health Strategies

Abstract

In this lecture Prof May presented a number of studies conducted by the research team during the Covid-19 global pandemic, as well as new opportunities and risks in global health strategies. The research mainly includes, social media use during the pandemic, including two directions: public sentiment analysis based on social media discourse and social media disinformation governance. Secondly, how disinformation governance was practiced during the Singapore epidemic , describing multi-level risk communication practices and public sentiment analysis in promoting child vaccination. The final study shared is about vulnerable populations, focusing on the mobile digital technologies use of migrant workers in Singapore during the lockdown, presenting the potential of using social media to enhance mental health. In conclusion, this epidemic pandemic provides an opportunity for health communication scholars and their research to be involved in multiple aspects of infectious disease prevention and control, and in the future, calls for increased global collaboration between health communication and other fields in the field of global infectious disease prevention and control to address the risks together.

Keywords：Digital Technology；Public Sentiment；Global Health；Health Communication；Social Media；