Quality health

Primary influencer types: Raisers, experts, activists

Network profile: Dispersed conversations

There are several notable clusters forming around discussions of health on Twitter, however they are not particularly entangled together. There are certainly some connections between each cluster, but they remain largely distinct from one another. 

Here, many of the clusters are typically formed around a specific health cause or campaign. For example, accounts campaigning for greater mental health awareness and suicide prevention sit within the light green cluster towards the bottom of the map. This includes campaigners or institutes typically centred around a specific location (i.e. Australia), such as SuicidePreventionAUS, National Mental Health Commission, Everymind, Orygen and Lifeline. Australian politicians and mental health advocates also intersect with these accounts too. As this topic becomes more specialised, we also see academic professors and doctors interacting in more specific discussions of youth mental health and men’s health.

Again, we can see more specific topics emerging here, tackling topics such as reproductive health, women’s health, maternal health and diversity in healthcare. In this, there’s a mix of doctors, academic journals, health departments and organisations. Stemming from this, we can see cause-focused accounts advocating for better and equal access to healthcare - particularly women’s reproductive health - such as Black Maternal Health Caucus, Every Mother Counts, Diverse Health Hub, National Black Midwives Alliance, Equitable Maternal Health Coalition. There are a few broadcasters in this cluster reporting on such topics, including Journal of Paediatrics and ESSENCE. It’s a proactive cluster of medical and science-backed campaigns for greater access and equality within healthcare. 

Towards the centre of the map, World Health Organisation (WHO) hold significant influence, with various individuals working with WHO benefitting from a similar level of influence, such as Michelle McIsaac (economist at WHO), Jim Campbell (Director of Health Workforce Department at WHO), and Tedros Adhanom (Director-General at WHO). This central hub of WHO-associated accounts branches off in all directions to medical institutes, associations and networks, policy analysts and humanitarian organisations. These tend to cluster together depending on their location in the world, such as Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO/WHO), UNFPA Nigeria, UNFPA Sierra Leone, UK Aid. There are however organisations that span across the world, including Global Health Observatory, UHC2030 and Global Health Strategies. It’s really interesting to see specific geographic campaigns in close proximity to wider global health initiatives in this cluster.

To the right of this, the green cluster on the right of the map houses discussions between politicians, humanitarian organisations and health associations. Holding influence here are various US Representatives, UN Women’s Affairs, Nurses Association and Johnson & Johnson Nursing. Of particular note, US Representative Cori Bush generates a large halo effect within this cluster.