Dispelling myths and misinformation using social media: A three-countries comparison using the case of tuberculosis

Myths and misinformation about diseases or illnesses can contribute to the stigmatization of patients suffering from them. In many cases, these people end up being ostracized from society and have lower positive health outcomes. Education has been known to be a good intervention to dispel such myths. With the increasing number of social media users, it is pertinent to explore the appropriateness of social media for health education and whether there are age and country differences. In this study, a contagious disease - tuberculosis (TB) - was used as a case study to examine the level of belief in ten TB myths in three different countries (Vietnam, India and Singapore). A total of 3,000 respondents completed a verbally administered survey and it was found that the most pervasive myth was that excessive smoking caused TB. India significantly agreed with the most number of myths. In terms of social media, the highest number of users for Vietnam is in the 21-25 years old group, with Singapore's in the 41-50 years old group, and the 31-40 years old group for India. The paper discusses implications for health researchers and policymakers in the use of media to educate disease myths.