Hyderabad: Internet usage has accelerated among Indians, especially among those following Covid-19 appropriate behaviour such as physical distancing, restrictions on gatherings. Now, there are concerns about the misinformation of ‘pandemic’ spreading through social media which is termed as ‘infodemic’.
The Indian Council of Medical Research-National Institute of Nutrition (ICMR-NIN) has launched an e-survey to assess the impact of the abundance and overburden of food and nutrition-related information on the web search behaviour, nutrition-related knowledge, attitude and practices as well as real and perceived food scares among the people during different phases of the COVID19 pandemic.
“In India, while internet and social media are being used extensively as the means of risk communication by the governments, health agencies, media houses and other stakeholders, quite often misinformation and rumours from unreliable sources have been making their way through them…