Evidence map›Paper›PMID 36721521›Full record

ArticleGlobal health, epidemiology and genomics2023

COVID-19 Information on YouTube: Analysis of Quality and Reliability of Videos in Eleven Widely Spoken Languages across Africa.

Kapil Narain, Kingsley Appiah Bimpong, O'Neil Kosasia Wamukota, Oloruntoba Ogunfolaji, Udeme-Abasi U Nelson, Anirban Dutta, Ayodeji Ogunleye, Eileen van der Westhuizen, Emmanuel Eni, Almthani Hamza Abdalrheem and 4 more

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Global health, epidemiology and genomics, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
4citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

4 citing papers in PubMed.

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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

14 authors.

Kapil NarainFederation of African Medical Students' Associations COVID-19 Technical Working Group, Ibadan, Nigeria.ORCID 0000-0002-1124-8189
Kingsley Appiah BimpongDepartment of Pediatrics and Child Health, Tamale Teaching Hospital, Tamale, Ghana.ORCID 0000-0002-4299-8919
O'Neil Kosasia WamukotaFederation of African Medical Students' Associations COVID-19 Technical Working Group, Ibadan, Nigeria.
Oloruntoba OgunfolajiFederation of African Medical Students' Associations COVID-19 Technical Working Group, Ibadan, Nigeria.ORCID 0000-0002-4201-9127
Udeme-Abasi U NelsonUniversity of Uyo, Uyo, Nigeria.
Anirban DuttaUniversity of Hawaii, Honolulu, HI, USA.
Ayodeji OgunleyeFederation of African Medical Students' Associations COVID-19 Technical Working Group, Ibadan, Nigeria.
Eileen van der WesthuizenNelson R Mandela School of Medicine, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, South Africa.
Emmanuel EniBayero University, Kano, Nigeria.
Almthani Hamza AbdalrheemFederation of African Medical Students' Associations COVID-19 Technical Working Group, Ibadan, Nigeria.
Samuel Mesfin GirmaSchool of Medicine, Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia.
Aimée Bernice MunezeroFederation of African Medical Students' Associations COVID-19 Technical Working Group, Ibadan, Nigeria.
Nazo NxumaloNelson R Mandela School of Medicine, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, South Africa.
Okuhle XozwaFaculty of Health Sciences, Walter Sisulu University, Mthatha, South Africa.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Introduction: Whilst the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccination rollout is well underway, there is a concern in Africa where less than 2% of global vaccinations have occurred. In the absence of herd immunity, health promotion remains essential. YouTube has been widely utilised as a source of medical information in previous outbreaks and pandemics. There are limited data on COVID-19 information on YouTube videos, especially in languages widely spoken in Africa. This study investigated the quality and reliability of such videos. Methods: Medical information related to COVID-19 was analysed in 11 languages (English, isiZulu, isiXhosa, Afrikaans, Nigerian Pidgin, Hausa, Twi, Arabic, Amharic, French, and Swahili). Cohen's Kappa was used to measure inter-rater reliability. A total of 562 videos were analysed. Viewer interaction metrics and video characteristics, source, and content type were collected. Quality was evaluated using the Medical Information Content Index (MICI) scale and reliability was evaluated by the modified DISCERN tool. Results: Kappa coefficient of agreement for all languages was Conclusion: YouTube is an invaluable, easily accessible resource for information dissemination during health emergencies. Misleading videos are often a concern; however, our study found a negligible proportion. Whilst most videos were fairly reliable, the quality of videos was poor, especially noting a dearth of information covering screening or testing. Governments, academic institutions, and healthcare workers must harness the capability of digital platforms, such as YouTube to contain the spread of misinformation.

Indexed as

COVID-19Social MediaAfricaHumansLanguageReproducibility of Results

Identifiers

PMID36721521
PMCPMC9876664

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.