Promoting Health in Developing Nations with Social Media

There has been a fair amount of discussion about how social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter can help increase health literacy, improve communication between health-care providers and patients and provide patients with support systems. But can such online tools effectively promote global health?

Infectious disease physician Eliah Aronoff-Spencer, MD, PhD, answers that question in a thought-provoking perspective posted today on KevinMD. He writes:

"For many global health issues (both at home and in developing countries alike) what we need is better communication and better allocation of the resources we already have. We need to promote wellness and prevent illnesses before they require expensive treatments, stop the spread of disease before it becomes epidemic and promote sustainable and affordable solutions over costly and complicated treatments; we need to make patients intelligent moderators of their own health by supporting healthful living through lifestyle education, preventative healthcare and of course, access to basic necessities such as food, water and shelter. Most people intuitively know this, but when you actually go to practice medicine it is not what you see. Rather we often use costly treatments and quick fixes after the fact that are more expensive in the long run."