NEW DELHI: Saurabh Shukla led organisation ‘NewsMobile’ have collaborated with UK based fact-finding organisation Logically. The organisations aim to debunk misinformation propagated on Covid-19 vaccine related on the social media across PAN – India. The programme designed by them to be known as “Covishaala”.
Covishaala will educate and inform people across India on the facts about Covid-19 and Covid-19 vaccinations in an effort to reduce vaccine hesitancy and limit the spread of the disease in the country.
The found and editor – in -chief of the “NewsMobile” has announced its partnership on the learning site ‘Linkedin’ on Wednesday, where he urges people to participate the initiatives by writing to [email protected].
Saurabh Shukla stated that the company believes that Covishaala can address one of the biggest challenges of the Covid-19 infodemic, that of vaccine and Covid-19 misinformation. “We believe that in collaboration with Facebook, and together with our partner Logically and our doctor mentors, we will be able to make the last mile impact with this unique series,” he added.
The contents can be delivered by NewsMobile and Logically representatives jointly alongside local journalists and the medical fraternity includes guidance in various languages on how to spot misinformation, build media literacy skills and identify trustworthy sources of information.
The programme deploys a ‘Train the Trainer’ model with view to empowering professional from various fields, including media, medical and teaching fraternities. The professionals need to address the concerns raised by the citizen related to Covid-19 misinformation impacting their lives.
The first ever Covishaala was held in July this year, and was attended by many professionals from Delhi, Gurgaon and Mumbai. Seeing the interest of the participants it is being extended to across country. Further, the assessment would be done post completion of the same.
Lyric Jain, founder and CEO of Logically said Covishaala has been designed specifically to target those most vulnerable to false news, rumours and narratives. “By empowering influential leaders and experts with the information and strategies they need to help people in their communities, we can make a demonstrable and scalable impact against damaging Covid-19 misinformation. We’re grateful for the support of our partners, Facebook and NewsMobile, in making this programme possible…Covid-19 misinformation is threatening lives and we must act now to combat it.”
While, Manish Chopra, director and head of partnerships at Facebook India said: “This partnership is the latest step in our ongoing efforts to support fact-checkers and connect them with resources to stop the spread of Covid-19 and health misinformation. We look forward to supporting Logically and NewsMobile in our shared goal of addressing Covid-19 misinformation by training experts and community leaders to identify and reduce misinformation across the country.”
Over four lakh Indians have so far lost their lives to the coronavirus pandemic that has affected billions of people worldwide. With over three crore people having tested positive in the country, India ranks in the top three among the world’s most affected. The companies said in addition to the surging numbers is the ‘infodemic’ of Covid-19 related misinformation, creating panic and fueling vaccine hesitancy. They said building resilience to Covid-19 misinformation through media literacy programmes is an essential step in reducing the spread of the disease and improving vaccine take-up.