Use of social media big data as a novel HIV surveillance tool in South Africa
SOURCE: PLoS One
OUTPUT TYPE: Journal Article
PUBLICATION YEAR: 2020
TITLE AUTHOR(S): A.C.Van Heerden, S.Young
KEYWORDS: HIV/AIDS, PUBLIC HEALTH, SOCIAL MEDIA, SOUTH AFRICA
DEPARTMENT: Public Health, Societies and Belonging (HSC)
Print: HSRC Library: shelf number 11487
HANDLE: 20.500.11910/15493
URI: http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11910/15493
OUTPUT TYPE: Journal Article
PUBLICATION YEAR: 2020
TITLE AUTHOR(S): A.C.Van Heerden, S.Young
KEYWORDS: HIV/AIDS, PUBLIC HEALTH, SOCIAL MEDIA, SOUTH AFRICA
DEPARTMENT: Public Health, Societies and Belonging (HSC)
Print: HSRC Library: shelf number 11487
HANDLE: 20.500.11910/15493
URI: http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11910/15493
If you would like to obtain a copy of this Research Output, please contact Hanlie Baudin at researchoutputs@hsrc.ac.za.
Abstract
Sub-Saharan Africa has been heavily impacted by the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Social data (e.g., social media, internet search, wearable device, etc) show great promise assisting in public health and HIV surveillance. However, research on this topic has primarily focused in higher resource settings, such as the United States. It is especially important to study the prevalence and potential use of these data sources and tools in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC), such as Sub-Saharan Africa, which have been heavily impacted by the HIV epidemic, to determine the feasibility of using these technologies as surveillance and intervention tools. Accordingly, we 1) described the prevalence and characteristics of various social technologies within South Africa, 2) using Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube as a case study, analyzed the prevalence and patterns of social media use related to HIV risk in South Africa, and 3) mapped and statistically tested differences in HIV-related social media posts within regions of South Africa. Geocoded data were collected over a three-week period in 2018 (654,373 tweets, 90,410 Instagram posts and 14,133 YouTube videos with 1,121 comments). Of all tweets, 4,524 (0.7%) were found to related to HIV and AIDS. The percentage was similar for Instagram 95 (0.7%) but significantly lower for YouTube 18 (0.1%). We found regional differences in prevalence and use of social media related to HIV. We discuss the implication of data from these technologies in surveillance and interventions within South Africa and other LMICs.-
Related Research Outputs:
- Factors associated with unsuppressed viral load among HIV-positive individuals in South Africa: implications for achieving the third 90 of the UNAIDS 90-90-90 targets
- Lottery incentives have short-term impact on ART initiation among men: results from a randomized pilot study
- PrEP awareness and engagement among transgender women in South Africa: a cross-sectional, mixed methods study
- Towards achieving the 90-90-90 HIV targets: results from the South African 2017 national HIV survey
- Community-based antiretroviral therapy versus standard clinic-based services for HIV in South Africa and Uganda (DO ART): a randomised trial
- Intimate partner violence in older South African women: an analysis of the 2016 Demographic and Health Survey
- Community-derived interventions can improve responsiveness to the HIV prevention needs of transgender women in South Africa
- A history of public health in South Africa
- Behind the mask: getting to grips with crime and violence in South Africa
- Crime, violence and public health
- HIV risk exposure among young children: a study of 2-9 year olds served by public health facilities in the Free State, South Africa
- Public health and the quality of drinking water in rural communities in South Africa: issues arising from the cholera epidemic 2000/01
- Substance abuse and HIV risk behaviours in community health centres in Cape Town
- Performative queer identities: masculinities and public bathroom usage
- Stewardship: protecting the public's health
- Downstream social monitoring study: nutrition, food security and selected public health issues in IFR reaches: IFR 1, IFR 2, IFR 3, IFR 7 and IFR 9. Volume III
- Draft protocol for social monitoring in the downstream areas of the LHWP: use of riverine resources by individuals and households; income and standards of living of households; nutritional and food security indicators; selected public health indicators
- Traditional circumcision during manhood initiation rituals in the Eastern Cape, South Africa: a pre-post intervention evaluation
- Revisiting South African employment trends in the 1990s
- Sectoral elasticity of substitution and returns to scale in South Africa