Lunch Workshop 1

Facts. Figures! Fiction?

How disruptive can missing health information be?

Organised by Gesundheit Österreich GmbH, Sciensano and InfAct, the Joint Action on Health Information

In the current ‘post-factual’ age, society and particularly healthcare professionals and other actors in health face a flood of information requiring sensible assessment: where are the information and data sources? How accurate is the presented data and its interpretation? What is reported by other sources of information? Stakeholders in health need to identify accurate health information to provide reliable facts for other actors in order to support the health and well-being of society as a whole.

In this session, a keynote speech will introduce the topic of 'facts vs fake news' in the healthcare sector and highlight why 'fake news' strongly affect the population in an era of technological revolutions. Participants will vote on the veracity of three real-life examples of factual or fake news, and reflect on their impact on society or specific groups, associated biases and how to tackle the threat of disinformation in public health. In ‘4min4talk’ lightning talks, experts will present case studies where reliable information or data were missing and explore what tools could have helped them to handle the situation adequately. We also want to hear from you, the participants, what you perceive as good data, where a lack of reliable information has come up in your own work and sector, and where you may see the need for new requirements and approaches to health information.

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