Noise and neglect: Social-media signals expose attention gaps for dengue, chikungunya, lymphatic filariasis and kala-azar in India’s vector-borne NTDs

Abstract

Background Neglected tropical and vector-borne diseases, including dengue, chikungunya, lymphatic filariasis, and kala-azar, pose substantial public health burdens in India. Despite WHO recommendations for enhanced disease surveillance and targeted communication strategies, little is known about public perceptions and discussions of these diseases across digital platforms. Understanding these perceptions can guide evidence-based policy making and public health messaging. Methods We conducted an in silico analysis of publicly accessible social and news media data related to dengue, chikungunya, filariasis, and kala-azar in India from January 2019 to December 2023. YouTube comments and Google News headlines were systematically retrieved, pre-processed, and analysed through sentiment analysis (VADER lexicon) and Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) topic modelling. Facebook and Twitter data were not included due to Application programming interface (API) restrictions and their current subscription-based models, limiting free access even for research purposes. We visualized disease-specific digital attention in comparison to epidemiological burden and created chord, Sankey, and network diagrams to elucidate thematic and sentiment-based interactions. Results Across keyword-matched items (n = 330), dengue accounted for 173 ( 52%) and also had the highest mean annual reported burden (163,679 cases/year; 2019–2023). Lymphatic filariasis showed disproportionately high attention (106 items/mentions vs 3,060 reported cases/year), while kala-azar had minimal visibility (5 items; none on YouTube). Sentiment was overall neutral-to-positive, with Google News more neutral and YouTube more positive. Topics emphasized outbreak alerts, public-health campaigns, and prevention/treatment, with recurring vaccine/innovation themes. Conclusions Our study presents a novel approach combining digital surveillance, sentiment analysis, and topic modelling to provide insights into public perceptions of NTDs in India. The observed mismatch between epidemiological burden and online attention underscores the need for strategic public health messaging, aligning with WHO recommendations for community engagement and tailored disease-awareness campaigns. This research provides a valuable tool for policymakers to enhance the effectiveness of communication strategies and improve targeted intervention planning for neglected tropical diseases in India.