Use social media to promote healthy living – Lecturer tells government

Dr. Jemima Nunoo, a lecturer at the Centre for Management Development of the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA), has called on government to champion the growth of Ghana’s health sector through the use of social media.

Dr. Nunoo said, social media can be used to promote healthy living when healthcare experts use the various platforms to educate the public on issues concerning their health.

She added that circulating health information on social media by government will also ensure misleading and fake reports about the health sector are eliminated from the system.

Speaking on the importance of social media in relation to healthcare at a forum organized by policy think-tank IMANI Africa at the Kempinski Hotel Gold Coast City in Accra Wednesday, July 12, 2017, she suggested that instead of seeing social media as platforms for disseminating false news, government should turn it around to satisfy the health demands of the citizens.

She said government must be proactive in offering health advice upfront using various social media platforms to create segments on healthy living issues in order to keep the general citizenry more informed.

“You don’t necessarily have to go to your doctor to be informed about certain things and to have access to certain health issues. It’s a way to turn these kinds of scaremongering and fake news and to make people safer,” Dr. Nunoo opined.