I’m confused about the potential utility of social media in health, and I suspect I’m not alone. I’ve been struggling for a term to help me articulate my feelings towards the use of the terms “social media” in the context of “health” and “healthcare” for a while. Struggling to the point where I’d avoid conversations [...]
Posts under ‘health’
Wealth Biomarkers
The Milkmaid, Johannes Vermeer I’m a fan of both longitudinal population studies and of the work of public health researcher Michael Marmot from the University College London. His previous work on Whitehall studies I and II revealed a correlation between a person’s health indicators, and their position within the British public sector. Much of his [...]
Sunitha Krishnan and Prajwala – Fighting for trafficked children
The entire audience was silent after watching Sunitha Krishnan’s powerful TEDIndia talk on the issue of child sex trafficking in India in November this year. People needed time to digest her message. She spoke about the organisation Prajwala she began almost 15 years ago in Hyderabad, India, and its mission of helping trafficked children. Prajwala finds, extracts, [...]
SVYM – Primary Health Care in action.
On my way to TED India I was shown around the Swami Vivekananda Youth Movement activities in Saragur, rural India, by an old friend who worked there as a paediatric surgeon. It was started 15 years ago by 4 medical students from Mysore and comprises two schools educating approximately 800 students between them, and a [...]
Increasing signal-to-noise on H1N1/Swine flu
With social media gaining traction since SARS (2003) and Avian H5N1 (2006), it will be interesting to see what role it might now play as a media tool in the current pandemic du jour. The benefits of social media are clear, namely speed of communication, and monitoring sentiment. The cost in accuracy is not insignficant, [...]
