A member of the Friends of Health Association, Fatima Sami Al -Naqi, said that the podcast technology has become a modern tool for spreading health awareness through many health sectors, whether in the government or private sector or civil organizations, it is a way to correct misconceptions in society and educate individuals healthy in simplified ways and explicit language that is easy to understand, especially when listing health experiences narrated by medical services providers and patients themselves, but it confirmed that it is an educational material In direction, not an alternative to reviewing health professionals, and care should not be exposed to patients ’identity to risks while adhering to all standards of health and legal ethics.
Fatima Al -Naqi added that he recently appeared in the so -called podcast (visual media broadcast) through social media channels as one of the fastest ways to spread information and news and the latest developments in various fields, including the medical field, explaining that through an interesting conversation with specialized doctors, real stories and various experiences are listed, whether successful or unsuccessful, through which the health culture can be spread to different segments of society. She added that one of the common medical topics that podcast platforms have recently witnessed stories of the success of cancer patients, concepts of dental care, women’s health after pregnancy, proper nutrition for adolescents, mental health, infectious sexual diseases, and many others. According to the statistics of 2024, 59% of people listen to the podcast regularly in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, which makes it one of the highest percentages in the world.
According to Fatima Al -Naqi: «Here lies the importance of going towards reviewing issues of importance to address the most influencing problems on the health of our societies, especially those that represent a huge burden on health systems, such as smoking issues or neglecting periodic medical examinations, which leads to the delay in the discovery of diseases early, in addition, the measurement of the impact of health podcast programs should be priority among the public health authorities, to determine more strategies The effectiveness of media promotion or targeting certain groups, and scientific research can also play an effective role in revealing the patterns and behaviors of the followers or viewers, and determining their interests and desires towards the type and style of podcast programs, which contributes to enhancing the positive social return of these programs ».
On the other hand, Al -Naqi stressed “the role and awareness of the viewer in selecting the valuable podcast programs that provide medical information objectively and based on scientific facts. Consequently, the possibility of sharing this information with friends and relatives to benefit from. It should also be well understood that what is reviewed in these programs represents an educational and directional material, and is not a substitute for reviewing health professionals in hospitals and licensed centers. She said, “It is very necessary for participants in health podcast programs to maintain the privacy of patients’ data and not to expose patients’ identity to the dangers of detection and leakage, which requires adherence to all standards of health ethics as well as legal standards, especially with regard to the policies and procedures of confidentiality of the institutions to which the guests of podcasts are affiliated. ” She explained that there are “some of the gains and positives that the guests of podcast programs may receive, such as media appearances and identifying their fields of specialization by the public closer and more clearly, in addition to winning people’s confidence, especially when providing information and knowledge in a way that targets the health interest of members of society with transparency, credibility and in a spirit of high professional and national responsibility.”
