Interview: “Modern Community Cannot Expand Without Social Media”

Dr Tatah Peter Ntaimah, holder of a PhD Medical Anthropology, talks on the abuse of social media.

“Social media is a web-based technology that uses desktop computers, mobile phones to create highly interactive platforms through which individuals, communities and organizations can share, co-create, discuss, upload and download text based information and images online at an alarming faster speed. This has introduced landmark changes on the traditional media (print, radio and television).

The importance of social media nowadays can be felt and observed in the following fields: community mobilization and building, healthcare delivery, disaster pre-emption, market development, learning and discovery, knowledge sharing etc. There are however, violations carried out while using social media. The violations are far less compared to the importance of the social media. A modern community cannot expand today without the use of the social media.

Social media provide healthcare planners with the necessary tools to: share information, debate healthcare policy and practice issues, promote health behaviours through fast awareness raising, etc. It is worthless overstressing the easiness with which health practitioners educate, interact with patients, carryout consultations online, direct therapeutic procedures and outcomes, modify or change therapeutic resorts, etc. It also helps in the development of professional network, spread of health news and discoveries.

It is relatively easy to alert and avert disasters like: oncoming storms, rising tidal waves, imminent terrorists, etc. A simpl...