As the COVID-19 pandemic rages on, more and more pieces of information on the prevention and treatment of this new disease continue to circulate. From the scientific to the anecdotal to the downright absurd, there seems to be too much to sift through.
Misinformation and disinformation spreads just as fast, perhaps even faster, than scientific and expert data. It is a race between fact and unverified information driven by the fallacy of argumentum ad populum: if many believe it, it must be true.
And at a time when fear, doubt, and uncertainty can overwhelm sound judgment, there are those who will cling to anything that gives a semblance of hope to survive.
The 48th episode of the University of the Philippines’ (UP) “Stop COVID Deaths” webinar series, “Facts and Fiction on COVID-19 Prevention and Treatments,” will address the confusion on drug therapies for COVID-19; discuss the dangers of self-medication, self-formulation, and buying and ingesting unregistered products; and explain how health professionals rank and weigh evidence before dispensing medical advice and making recommendations.
Speakers are Dr. Marissa Alejandria, President of the Philippine Society for Microbiology and Infectious Diseases and Professor for Clinical Epidemiology; Dr. Joseph Adrian Bunesalido, Clinical Associate Professor for Infectious Disease of the UP Philippine General Hospital (UP PGH); Dr. Nina Castillo-Carandang, Professor of the Department of Clinical Epidemiology at the UP College of Medicine; Dr. Jason Ligot, Director for Development Communication with Organic Intelligence; and Dr. Beverly Ho, Director of the Health and Communication Service of the Department of Health (DOG).
The event will be on April 16, 12:00 noon, via Zoom. It will also be streamed live in TVUP’s YouTube channel.
Register here: bit.ly/StopCOVIDDeathsWebinar48
