Campaign will run under the hashtag #AskDXBdoctor 

Dubai-UAE: 25 March, 2020:   The Dubai Health Authority (DHA) and Twitter have partnered to launch a campaign entitled #AskDXBdoctor to increase the availability of credible health information on COVID-19 on the platform through an open dialogue with the public. 

Tomorrow, the authority’s account on Twitter (@DHA_Dubai) will launch the campaign through a Tweet that includes the hashtag #AskDXBdoctor, inviting the public to ask questions to registered   doctors in Dubai in both Arabic and English. Upon selecting the button that appears in the Tweet, people will be able to tweet with the hashtag #AskDXBdoctor and post a question about COVID-19, to which the authority will respond to.

Commenting on the partnership between Twitter and Dubai Health Authority, Abdullah Juma, Director of Institutional Marketing and Communications Department at the Dubai Health Authority, said: “Our collaboration with Twitter comes at a critical time. Dubai Health Authority has been focusing on reaching out to the community and providing them with reliable information about COVID-19 This platform provides another important channel to open dialogue between our doctors and the public in order to share reliable information about the virus and answer all COVID-19 related concerns.”

“This partnership serves as an important opportunity to increase social awareness about COVID-19. The Dubai Health Authority values this collaboration and the vital role Twitter plays as one of the most impactful global social media platforms especially in this difficult time,” he added.

George Salama, Head of Public Policy and Government Relations, Twitter MENA said: “We are proud to be partnering with the Dubai Health Authority to help protect the public conversation around COVID-19. To date, Twitter has introduced a number of measures to ensure people have access to authoritative content, from a dedicated search prompt directing people to the World Health Organization’s Eastern Mediterranean Regional Office, to a dedicated COVID-19 event page in Arabic, which includes the authority’s Twitter account (@DHA_Dubai). More recently we expanded our safety rules in relation to COVID-19, broadening our definition of harm to address content that goes directly against guidance from authoritative sources of global and local health information.”  

The Dubai Health Authority joined Twitter in 2011, to maintain an open channel of communication with residents by providing medical advice and information about well-being programs and health services. 

Twitter’s expanded rules require people to remove Tweets that include denial of health authority recommendations to decrease someone’s likelihood of exposure to COVID-19 with the intent to influence people into acting against recommended guidance, description of protective measures which are known to be ineffective and are not applicable to the COVID-19 context, and denial of established scientific facts about transmission during the incubation period or transmission guidance from health authorities, among others.