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. 2023 Feb 27;20(5):4242.
doi: 10.3390/ijerph20054242.

Meet the Medicines-A Crowdsourced Approach to Collecting and Communicating Information about Essential Medicines Online

Yaela N Golumbic  1   2   3 , Kymberley R Scroggie  1   2   4 , Ciara R Kenneally  1 , Jiarun Lin  1 , Mitchell T Blyth  5 , Genevieve Firmer  1 , Peter J Rutledge  1   2   4 , Alice Motion  1   2   4
Affiliations

Meet the Medicines-A Crowdsourced Approach to Collecting and Communicating Information about Essential Medicines Online

Yaela N Golumbic et al. Int J Environ Res Public Health. .

Abstract

The World Health Organization (WHO) maintains a list of medicines and medical devices, essential medicines, that should be available to everyone, to form a functioning healthcare system. Yet, many of these medicines remain out of reach for people around the world. One significant barrier to improving the accessibility of essential medicines is a paucity of information about both the extent and causes of this problem. E$$ENTIAL MEDICINE$ (E$$) is a citizen science project designed to investigate this deficit of information by recruiting members of the public to find, validate, compile and share information on essential medicines through an open, online database. Herein, we report an approach to crowdsourcing both the collection of information on the accessibility of essential medicines and the subsequent communication of these findings to diverse audiences. The Meet the Medicines initiative encourages members of the public to share information from the E$$ database, in a short video format appropriate for social media. This communication details the design and implementation of our crowdsourced approach and strategies for recruiting and supporting participants. We discuss data on participant engagement, consider the benefits and challenges of this approach and suggest ways to promote crowdsourcing practices for social and scientific good.

Keywords: accessibility; citizen science; essential medicines; science communication; social media.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
E$$ challenges overview provided for participants.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Printscreen of the E$$ ‘News Flash’ challenge database presenting public health and medical information featured in the news for Digoxin.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Workflow of the crowdsourced social media campaign from data assembly to posting on social media platforms.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Example slideshow created for rifampicin.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Published tweet for rifampicin video. See—https://twitter.com/_breakinggood/status/1387997091641794562?s=42&t=YQlFlekFEt9A3UK_zaUFRg, accessed on 20 January 2023.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. World Health Organization . Access to Medicines: Making Market Forces Serve the Poor. Ten Years in Public Health 2007–2017. World Health Organization; Geneva, Switzerland: 2017.
    1. World Health Organization . Access to Essential Medicines, Vaccines and Health Technologies: Fact Sheet on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): Health Targets. World Health Organization; Geneva, Switzerland: 2017.
    1. World Health Organization WHO Model Lists of Essential Medicines. [(accessed on 30 November 2022)]. Available online: https://www.who.int/groups/expert-committee-on-selection-and-use-of-esse....
    1. World Health Organization . Model List of Essential Medicines. World Health Organization; Geneva, Switzerland: 2021. 22nd List.
    1. Bazargani Y.T., Ewen M., De Boer A., Leufkens H.G.M., Mantel-Teeuwisse A.K. Essential Medicines Are More Available than Other Medicines around the Globe. PLoS ONE. 2014;9:e87576. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0087576. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

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