How video games & quizzes are boosting vaccine education
How video games & quizzes are boosting vaccine education
How video games & quizzes are boosting vaccine education
By Gary Finnegan
May 25th, 2023
Summary
Collaborations between gaming experts, academics and health authorities have resulted in several promising approaches to using games to engage people in the challenging field of vaccine education.
The World Health Organization are among those testing how games can engage people in a place and format that they use regularly, rather than trying to attract the public to official websites.
The aim, explains Andy Pattison, Team Lead, Digital Channels at the WHO, is to 'get into people's digital journeys', bringing health content into games they already play or by collaborating with gaming companies to develop engaging games that build people's knowledge and trust in vaccines.
The players can experience how vaccines affect the human immune system and the coronavirus in the game, and how the behaviour of coronavirus differs from other viruses included in the game,' he added.
Schools in Canada, the United States, Scotland and Ireland and elsewhere have registered for the platform, which builds on the I Boost Immunity project through which more than 750,000 vaccines have been donated to UNICEF. IBI has been relaunched with a fresh focus on vaccine confidence, including new quiz questions on digital literacy and AI. Children are not the only group to benefit from educational games.
The game has been adapted to address vaccine misinformation and, in partnership with UNICEF, the Sabin Vaccine Institute, and Irimi, is being used in East Africa, Pakistan and Ghana.
Reference
Finnegan, G. (2023, May 25). How video games & quizzes are boosting vaccine education. VaccinesToday. https://www.vaccinestoday.eu/stories/how-video-games-quizzes-are-boosting-vaccine-education/