Netha Hussain

Netha Hussain
Hussain during Wikimania 2023
Born	(1990-06-11) 11 June 1990 (age 34) Kunnamangalam, Kerala, India
Occupations	Physician researcher Wikipedian
Spouse	Anver Hisham
Awards	Women in Open Source Award (2020) Wikimedian of the Year – Honourable Mention (2021)
Website	nethahussain.com

Netha Hussain (Malayalam pronunciation: [nɐdɐ husɐin]; born 11 June 1990) is an Indian physician and Wikipedian[1] known for her efforts to tackle the spread of misinformation in Wikipedia about the origin of the coronavirus.[2]

Life and career

Hussain was born on 11 June 1990 in Kunnamangalam in the state of Kerala.[3]

Hussain embarked in her Wikipedia career in 2010 when she was still at first-year medical student at the Calicut Medical College in Kozhikode, India.[3] She pursued her higher studies in 2016 by joining the University of Gothenburg in Sweden. She also worked as a blogger at Huffington Post until 2018.[4] In 2020, she obtained her PhD in Clinical Neuroscience from the University of Gothenburg.[5]

In mid-2020, she began focusing on creating and curating Wikipedia articles related to the COVID-19 pandemic in English, Malayalam and Swedish language editions.[6] She has written nearly 30 articles on Wikipedia relating to COVID-19 including List of unproven methods against COVID-19 with the purpose of preventing the spread of misinformation about the pandemic in internet and social media platforms.[7]

She also launched WikiProject COVID-19 in order to improve and expand the information regarding the topics about the efficacy of the COVID-19 vaccines and about the COVID-19 vaccine safety on Wikipedia.[8][9]

Awards

In 2020, Hussain received the Women in Open Source Academic Award, recognising her contributions regarding disseminating and sharing medical knowledge and information in Wikipedia.[10][11] She also received honorable special mention from the United Nations through its official Twitter handle in 2020.[3]

In 2021, she received a Wikimedian of the Year Honourable Mention by Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales during the virtual Wikimania conference.[12][13]

See also

• List of Wikipedia people

References

1. "Dr. Netha Hussain". Wikimedia Foundation. 11 April 2021. Archived from the original on 9 July 2021. Retrieved 30 June 2021.
2. Wikimedia (13 April 2020). "Meet some of the women sharing reliable COVID-19 information with the world on Wikipedia". Medium. Archived from the original on 8 March 2021. Retrieved 30 June 2021.
3. "UN recognises Malayali researcher's fight against COVID-19 misinformation". The New Indian Express. Archived from the original on 9 July 2021. Retrieved 30 June 2021.
4. "Netha Hussain". Huffington Post. Archived from the original on 9 July 2021. Retrieved 30 June 2021.
5. Hussain, Netha; Hansson, Per-Olof; Persson, Carina U. (29 June 2021). "Prediction of fear of falling at 6 months after stroke based on 279 individuals from the Fall Study of Gothenburg". Scientific Reports. 11 (1): 13503. Bibcode:2021NatSR..1113503H. doi:10.1038/s41598-021-92546-9. ISSN 2045-2322. PMC 8241879. PMID 34188105. Archived from the original on 27 June 2022. Retrieved 30 June 2021.
6. "വിക്കി മീഡിയൻ ഓഫ് ദ ഇയർ നേടിയ ആദ്യ മലയാളി; വിക്കിപീഡിയയിൽ എഴുത്ത് ഹരമാണ് നേതയ്ക്ക്". Mathrubhumi (in Malayalam). 2 January 2023. Retrieved 10 May 2023.
7. Ryan, Jackson. "Wikipedia is at war over the coronavirus lab leak theory". CNET. Archived from the original on 3 July 2021. Retrieved 30 June 2021.
8. "Guaranteeing the safety of vaccine information". The Jakarta Post. Archived from the original on 9 July 2021. Retrieved 30 June 2021.
9. Hussain, Netha (28 July 2020). "Strengthening vaccine safety information on Wikipedia". Medium. Archived from the original on 17 October 2022. Retrieved 30 June 2021.
10. "Netha Hussain wins the 2020 Women in Open Source Award". akademiliv.se. Archived from the original on 9 July 2021. Retrieved 30 June 2021.
11. "Women in Open Source Award". www.redhat.com. Archived from the original on 22 March 2020. Retrieved 30 June 2021.
12. Sharma, Unnati (17 August 2021). "3 Indians win Wikimedia awards for helping provide free, accessible knowledge on the internet". ThePrint. Archived from the original on 17 August 2021. Retrieved 17 August 2021.
13. "Meet Netha Hussain: Wikimedian of the Year 2021 Honourable Mention winner". Diff. Wikimedia Foundation. 15 August 2021.

External links

• Official website
• Netha Hussain publications indexed by Google Scholar
• Hussain's userpage on English Wikipedia