Health workers and endemics across the country will learn to fight fake news

Fake news is in the sights of health and endemic agents. These public servants will gain an extra tool to fight fake news. This is the A Casa project, which will provide free courses, workshops, lectures and lives to these workers for professional updating. All in a virtual environment, to reach all 5,570 cities in Brazil.

The idea is that the platform and social networks created by the project provide an exchange of experiences between agents from different states and help to recycle scientific knowledge on health issues —such as the prevention and monitoring of diseases—, and endemic diseases —such as the proliferation of dengue, malaria, zika, Chagas disease and new strains of Covid-19, for example.

All this so that these professionals, the link between the citizen and the SUS (Unified Health System), do not spread false news that can harm the health of the population.

The agents consulted by the report listed some of these fake news that circulate in the municipalities and must be fought.

They cited, for example, fake news: “Monkeys with yellow fever transmit the disease to people”; “The MMR vaccine causes autism; the flu vaccine causes the flu; the measles and whooping cough vaccines cause microcephaly”; “Skin patch is able to cure diabetes”; “fennel tea cures the flu”.

With the platform, the goal is for these servers to also be agents in the fight against these and other fake news, according to Camila Benvenuto, executive director of the A Casa project and representative of Ipads (Institute for Research and Support for Social Development).

“The project provides simple and accessible language on scientific topics. The intention is to create a welcoming space to share experiences of good practices. And these agents, who will also be able to tell their stories on social networks, are essential to bring informed information to people’s homes .”

Camila explains that the workshops and courses will have support materials for access at any time, while the lectures and lives will be given by professionals linked to the area under discussion, such as infectologists, epidemiologists and psychiatrists, among others.

“We are going to bring in specialists to discuss topics of relevance and research of interest to agents. In addition, of course, to issues that are popping up at that moment, such as the recent high of dengue in some regions”, says Camila.

The first live – this Monday (16), when the project will be officially launched -, addresses mental health. The theme emerged after a questionnaire carried out by A Casa with 295 community health agents and agents to combat endemic diseases in the five regions of the country.

The pandemic has affected the psychological aspects of the agents, says Ilda Angélica Correia, president of Conacs (National Confederation of Community Health Agents).

“There is not much preparation offered by the public authorities. Therefore, this project enhances the action of agents and encourages them to be in their communities strengthened to fight diseases and misleading news, which are still many.”

Conacs, according to Ilda, estimates that Brazil has around 300,000 health agents and 100,000 to combat endemic diseases.

Other topics of interest to agents, according to the survey, are the health of the elderly, women, vaccination schedule and care for people with disabilities.

Community health agent Lígia Santos, 46, is willing to watch the broadcast on mental health. “I intend to participate in the lives to pass on correct information. We have to be always up to date. This allows us to grow professionally and help people more effectively.”

For Lígia, agents are lacking psychological support, especially in the pandemic. “We are often forgotten. But we have an essential welcoming role in the daily lives of the people we visit, and they have many demands. health agent from Conceição de Macabu (RJ).

A community health worker since 1991, Antônio Alves Campelo, 61, says he is satisfied with his work. For him, being an agent is a relevant service, but it is essential to keep up to date.

“Information is power. This project is important for our category, because it will provide us with realistic data”, says Campelo, who works in Altos (PI), where he travels on dirt roads with a motorcycle.

He says that fighting fake news is tiring and that they became more evident in the pandemic. This, according to the agent, also harms mental health. But he says that his function is aimed at guiding the population in a kind of negotiation.

“It’s a tireless work of convincing the importance of the vaccine, of the use of masks. Many are still resistant. We have that philosophy of the saying: ‘soft water on hard stone hits so much until it breaks’. And A Casa will provide us even more to pierce this stone.”

Servers are excited about the platform, according to Josenilson Vicente, agent to combat endemic diseases in Natal (RN) and member of the Conacs board. “Nobody wants to be left behind. In addition to qualifying agents, the platform will help update epidemiological issues, which change all the time. This was very evident with Covid.”

The project is an association between Ipads, Conacs and Conasems (National Council of Municipal Health Departments), but the value of the investment was not informed.

throughout the national territory

The House will reach agents throughout the national territory through Conacs and Conasems, which will alert the municipalities of the activities and, consequently, the agents.

Alessandro Aldrin Pinheiro Chagas, representative of Conasems, says that some agents will receive marketing training over the course of a year and then take over the management of the social networks created by the project.

“They will improve the pages and supply them with news and alerts. Agents will be protagonists. It is an evolution in the public system and a way of recognizing these professionals”, he says.