Like many of us, Miracle Adesina watched the COVID-19 pandemic spread through the lens of social media. As a healthcare professional, what he saw coming through his social feeds gave him great cause for concern.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI watched and just shook my head at viral videos from Northern Nigeria of people washing their hands only with water and then DRINKING it. They did this as a statement, and what they were saying is that the virus wasn\u2019t real,\u201d he recalls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Everywhere he looked, people were spreading misinformation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cCorona virus was invented to stop Nigerians from going to church.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe real cause of the pandemic is 5G.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAfricans are immune to COVID-19; that\u2019s just a rich person\u2019s disease.\u201dMiracle Adesina<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Part of the problem, Miracle felt, was that critical health messages were not available in many of the 70+ indigenous languages throughout Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI decided we could do something about this. My team at Slum & Rural Health Initiative got to work, found graphic designers, and began translating factual, empowering messages from the World Health Organization over social media and WhatsApp,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI shared some of our first translated graphics with my grandmother, who only speaks Yoruba,\u201d he recalls. \u201cI saw how this empowered her, gave her practical things she could do to protect herself, and protected her from all the misinformation spreading in her village.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Pollination Project supported Miracle\u2019s translation project with a seed grant. Now, the infographics and translated messages that his team has created have been shared with hundreds of other changemakers who are working on COVID-19 related projects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cSo many of the changemakers we work with across the world, particularly in Africa, wanted to respond to the pandemic by correcting the misinformation they were seeing in their communities. Miracle\u2019s team made that process immediately easier for all of them, and helped us avoid duplicating efforts among our TPP community,\u201d said Ajay Dahiya, who leads The Pollination Project.<\/p>\n\n\n\n