The fight against misinformation in Health It is one of the great challenges that specialized communicators already have to face to fulfill their social mission, a problem that is increasing due to the advance of digitalization and the decrease in media consumption traditional ones, in favor of new information channels. To combat this challenge and others, such as the impact of climate change on health or the rise of sexually transmitted infections, it will be held from October 25 to 27 in Santander he XIX Congress of the National Association of Health Informants (ANIS).
Graduated ‘Redesigning health journalism. The informational challenges faced with climate change, the media crisis and misinformation’this professional meeting will be the framework in which the members of the newly created group meet for the first time International Alliance to Fight Disinformation in Healthpromoted by ANIS, and the Health Information Integrity Alliance (HIIA) led by the World Health Organization (WHO) and of which ANIS is a part, an association linked to the Federation of Associations of Journalists of Spain (FAPE) and one of the largest in the country in the sectoral press, with nearly 800 communicators associated healthcare.
The Congress will begin on Friday October 25at 6:00 p.m., in a session that will include the round table ‘Amortality. Cure us from deathmoderated by the professor of Journalism and principal investigator of the GICOMSOC (Research Group on Communication, Society and Culture) of the Rey Juan Carlos University, Antonio García Jiménez.
In this first table they will participate as speakers Juan Antonio Valor Yébenesprofessor of Philosophy of Nature at the Complutense University from Madrid; Fernando Pelaezdirector of the Biotechnology program of the National Cancer Research Center (CNIO), Gisela Isabel Fernández Rivas Plata Researcher at the Bioethics and Law Observatory – Unesco Chair of Bioethics at the University of Barcelonaand Beatriz Nogaljournalist specialized in Health SER Chain.
This will be followed by the presentation of the results of the survey ‘Health Journalism in Public Administrations: Employment Map’prepared by ANIS with the aim of shedding light on the employment situation in the communication sector specialized in Health in Spain.
Already on Saturday, in the Gómez Durán assembly hall of the Marqués de Valdecilla University Hospitalthe official opening of the Congress will be held at 10:00 a.m. with the participation of the hospital manager, Maria Dolores Acon; the president of ANIS, Graziella Almendraland the former president of Nobel Prize Committee, Carl-Henrik Heldin.
This institutional act will be followed by the table ‘Climate change as a health problem’in which they will participate Philip Columbusleader of Data for Science and Health at the Welcome Trust Foundation; Yasna Palmeiro Silvaresearcher of Climate Change and population health at The Lancet Countdown; Rafael Vilasanjuandirector of the Global Analysis and Development Department of ISGlobaland Hector Tejeroresponsible for Health and Climate Change of the Cabinet of the Minister of Health.
Subsequently, the congress will address ‘The data behind the increase in STIs’ (sexually transmitted infections), in a round table moderated by specialized journalists Emilio de Benito and Virginia Olmedo and in which the doctor specializing in Public Health will participate as speakers, Monica Morán Arribas; the head of campaigns Ministry of Health, Alejandro Cerezo; the internist, member of the Spanish Society of Infectious Diseases and Clinical Microbiology (SEIMC) Santiago Fernandez Castelao; the epidemiologist and health project technician of the NGO Stop, Hernan Santiagoand the psychologist and sexologist Martha Villar.
On this main day of the congress, in the afternoon shift, the workshop ‘Strategies to address health misinformation’in charge of Mijail SantosCommunication, Strategy, Planning and Coordination technician World Health Organization (WHO), which will be followed by the round table ‘International Alliance: Health Information Integrity Alliance’ and in which, in addition to Mijail Santos, Jesús Serrano, representative of the Communication area of the World Economic Forum, has been invited. Other international organizations such as Internews (USA and Europe) will also attend this table where the presence of Scrambled Gemvice president of the Spanish Association of Scientific Communication (AEC2), and specialized journalists and members of ANIS Xavi Granda and Mapi Muñoz.
The scientific program of the Congress will conclude with the round table ‘ANIS turns 30. How we have changed!’ in which the evolution of health communication and the association itself will be analyzed, with the help of some of the winners of the ANIS Award – Iñigo Lapetra, specifically, Leonor Rodríguez, director of ‘El Médico’ (winner in 2018); Jose Antonio PlazaHead of Communication Carlos III Health Institute (2019); Miguel Ángel Pérez LucasDirector of Communication Toledo Paraplegic Hospital (2015); Pablo Lindehealth journalist The Country (2023), and Larrosa Coral and Belén Gómez del PinoHealth journalists from Telecinco and Zero Waverespectively, and both finalists for the award in this year’s edition.
