With the growing popularity of livestream and the increasing speed at which information spreads, the public is gradually becoming more aware of infectious disease prevention. To provide the public with accurate knowledge about disease prevention, the Taiwan Centers for Disease Control (Taiwan CDC) has arranged a series of livestream events named “Lunch with a Medical Officer” on the Taiwan CDC’s Facebook fan page, “Infectious Disease Prevention Expert1922”(1922防疫達人). The first livestream event was aired at 12:30 on August 30, 2017 with the medical officer from Taiwan CDC Su Chia-ping (蘇家彬) and the internet celebrity HOWHOW discussing ways to ward off enterovirus infection. During the livestream discussion, the medical officer answered questions from the audience in real-time. At the same time, the audience were encourage to leave questions to receive gifts.  

To reinforce enterovirus prevention on campus as the new school year begins in September, the medical officer Su Chia-ping quizzed the internet celebrity HOWHOW about enterovirus prevention to promote public awareness. HOWHOW was given a prize for each correct answer and received a punishment for every incorrect response.

In addition, a lucky draw was made during the livestream event and participants received gifts for leaving correct answers to the specific questions raised by the event host. The gifts included 3 vacuum machine robots, 3 Hello Kitty vacuum robot cleaners, and 12 convenient store vouchers. For more information on the lucky draw, please visit the Taiwan CDC’s Facebook fan page “Infectious Disease Expert 1922” (1922防疫達人).  

Nowadays, live streaming is becoming mainstream and a useful tool that the government can take advantage to promote important policies. Taiwan CDC wishes to reinforce the public’s concept of disease prevention through combining the advantage of the rising media with the expertise of the medical officers. Besides enterovirus prevention, the series of “Lunch with a Medical Officer” will feature different seasonal infectious diseases such as dengue fever, influenza etc.