The World Health Organization (WHO) and TikTok, a platform for short-form mobile videos, announced a year-long collaboration aimed at providing people with reliable, science-based health information.
TikTok is the leading destination for short-form mobile video. TikTok’s global headquarters are in Los Angeles and Singapore, and its offices include New York, London, Dublin, Paris, Berlin, Dubai, Jakarta, Seoul, and Tokyo.
WHO is a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for international public health.
Social media platforms can be important sources of information that influence health-related behaviours and decisions.
One in four young adults actively seek news content on social media platforms, including TikTok.
The new collaboration between WHO and TikTok is to help address these challenges by promoting evidence-based content and encouraging positive health dialogues.
With over 1 billion people as part of its global community, TikTok is using its platform and technology to raise health awareness and increase access to trustworthy information. TikTok aims to make a positive impact on people’s well-being.
The collaboration will expand efforts around a number of relevant health topics, translating science-based information into relatable and digestible video content, with more support for influencers provided through TikTok’s creator training programs.
World leaders on AMR
Global leaders have approved a political declaration at the 79th United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) High-Level Meeting on Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR), committing to a clear set of targets and action.
Agreeing to reduce the estimated 4.95 million human deaths associated with bacterial antimicrobial resistance (AMR) annually by 10% by 2030, the declaration also calls for sustainable national financing and US $100 million in catalytic funding, to help achieve a target of at least 60% of countries having funded national action plans on AMR by 2030.
This goal is to be reached through, for example, diversifying funding sources and securing more contributors to the Antimicrobial Resistance Multi-Partner Trust Fund.
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the World Health Organization (WHO) and the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH), known as the Quadripartite, welcome the declaration.
AMR occurs when bacteria, viruses, fungi and parasites no longer respond to medicines, leading to infections becoming difficult or impossible to treat, increasing the risk of disease spread, severe illness and death.
On human health, the declaration sets a more ambitious target that at least 70% of antibiotics used for human health globally should belong to the WHO Access group antibiotics with relatively minimal side effects and lower potential to cause AMR.
