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

Background: Neglected tropical diseases (NTDs), including dengue, chikungunya, lymphatic filariasis, and kala-azar, pose significant 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 analyzed through sentiment analysis (VADER lexicon) and Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) topic modeling. Facebook and Twitter data were not included due to 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: Dengue dominated online attention, accounting for over 50% of total mentions, despite a comparable or lower disease burden than filariasis and chikungunya. Kala-azar received minimal online engagement, highlighting a critical awareness gap. Sentiment analysis revealed predominantly neutral-to-positive discourse, especially focused on treatments, preventive measures, and vaccination initiatives. Topic modeling highlighted recurrent themes, including public health campaigns, outbreak alerts, and community-based interventions. Conclusions: Our study presents a novel approach combining digital surveillance, sentiment analysis, and topic modeling 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.