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Meet the Medicines—A Crowdsourced Approach to Collecting and Communicating Information about Essential Medicines Online

Author

Listed:
  • Yaela N. Golumbic

    (SCOPE Research Group, School of Chemistry, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia
    Charles Perkins Citizen Science Node, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia
    The Steinhardt Museum of Natural History, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv 6997801, Israel
    These authors contributed equally to this work.)

  • Kymberley R. Scroggie

    (SCOPE Research Group, School of Chemistry, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia
    Charles Perkins Citizen Science Node, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia
    Drug Discovery Institute, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia
    These authors contributed equally to this work.)

  • Ciara R. Kenneally

    (SCOPE Research Group, School of Chemistry, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia)

  • Jiarun Lin

    (SCOPE Research Group, School of Chemistry, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia)

  • Mitchell T. Blyth

    (Research School of Chemistry, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT 2601, Australia)

  • Genevieve Firmer

    (SCOPE Research Group, School of Chemistry, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia)

  • Peter J. Rutledge

    (SCOPE Research Group, School of Chemistry, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia
    Charles Perkins Citizen Science Node, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia
    Drug Discovery Institute, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia)

  • Alice Motion

    (SCOPE Research Group, School of Chemistry, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia
    Charles Perkins Citizen Science Node, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia
    Drug Discovery Institute, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia)

Abstract

The World Health Organization (WHO) maintains a list of medicines and medical devices, essential medicines , that should be available to everyone, to form a functioning healthcare system. Yet, many of these medicines remain out of reach for people around the world. One significant barrier to improving the accessibility of essential medicines is a paucity of information about both the extent and causes of this problem. E$$ENTIAL MEDICINE$ (E$$) is a citizen science project designed to investigate this deficit of information by recruiting members of the public to find, validate, compile and share information on essential medicines through an open, online database. Herein, we report an approach to crowdsourcing both the collection of information on the accessibility of essential medicines and the subsequent communication of these findings to diverse audiences. The Meet the Medicines initiative encourages members of the public to share information from the E$$ database, in a short video format appropriate for social media. This communication details the design and implementation of our crowdsourced approach and strategies for recruiting and supporting participants. We discuss data on participant engagement, consider the benefits and challenges of this approach and suggest ways to promote crowdsourcing practices for social and scientific good.

Suggested Citation

  • Yaela N. Golumbic & Kymberley R. Scroggie & Ciara R. Kenneally & Jiarun Lin & Mitchell T. Blyth & Genevieve Firmer & Peter J. Rutledge & Alice Motion, 2023. "Meet the Medicines—A Crowdsourced Approach to Collecting and Communicating Information about Essential Medicines Online," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(5), pages 1-15, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:20:y:2023:i:5:p:4242-:d:1082248
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Sajedeh Abbasi & Hamed Vahdat-Nejad & Hossein Moradi, 2024. "Harnessing trustable crowdsourcing power for flood disaster evaluation," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 120(9), pages 8723-8741, July.

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