The spread of the COVD-19 pandemic has been followed by unprecedented and repeated waves of dis/misinformation generating what has been defined as an infodemic. This overabundance of information has been amplified by social media and affected the deployment of public health responses, generating fear, anxiety and distrust in local populations about preventive measures and vaccination campaigns.
With COVID-19, or any other outbreak, a glut of information can confuse people and fuel behaviours that drive the spread of disease. It can undermine trust in health authorities which hampers public health responses and ultimately prolongs outbreaks. And in Africa, a continent of 1,3 billion people frequently exposed to outbreaks and other health emergencies, countering the spread of misinformation and managing the infodemic are vital measures for public health responses. 
While different organisations and authorities were developing their own systems to counter the spread of false information, in December 2020 the African regional office of the World Health Organisation launched a new initiative to bridge the knowledge, expertise and capacities from inter-governmental organisations, big data, AI, fact-checking and media organizations to respond to infodemics : the Africa Infodemic Response Alliance (AIRA).
AIRA was created to coordinate actions and pool resources to combat dis/misinformation and fill information gaps around the COVID-19 pandemic and other health emergencies in Africa. In March 2021, AIRA launched Viral Facts Africa, a content hub to produce and disseminate digital materials to de-prebunk misinformation.

Social Media platforms have become a common source for information among people across the world and Social Media penetration in developing countries has increased exponentially throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, with countries seeing increases ranging from 5-30%. With social media playing a larger role in everyday life all over the world, how can SBC campaigns harness its power for good?


This talk will focus on how the influencer marketing model can be adapted from promoting brands to building social behavior change campaigns and increasing access to information and use of digital resources. We will discuss AIfluence's model, where we use AI to identify nano and micro-influencers, on existing social media platforms (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Tiktok), to lead campaigns. By using AI to identify and activate the right influencers, this approach is uniquely capable of engaging people who can drive authentic, relatable, and meaningful peer-to-peer conversations at scale.


This talk will discuss how and why AIfluence concentrates on micro and nano influencers over celebrity influencers and why their value is so critical in the development sector. The talk will share examples of health campaigns in Africa, focusing on what has worked, how we use the data and conversations with influencers to build rapid feedback loops, and areas for future learnings.