TORONTO -- A Toronto palliative care physician and health justice advocate is educating a younger generation on the COVID-19 pandemic by connecting with them through clever TikTok videos.

Dr. Naheed Dosani said he initially signed up for TikTok to share information about palliative care, but when the pandemic hit, he decided to redirect his focus.

“I started to make public health messaging that was more focused around physical distancing, infection control strategies, Health Canada updates, and people were really into it,” he told CTV’s Your Morning on Friday. 

Dosani said he scans public health messages and picks ones that might be particularly complex, then distills them for his audience on the social media platform.

“I’m realizing that people, particularly under 40, are not getting these messages. So I choose some of the more complicated messages and I try to find a trendy or innovative way to package it so that people can get access to that information,” he explained.

While his methods may be unconventional, Dosani said the response to his videos has been largely encouraging from TikTok users and his colleagues in the health-care industry.

“I think at the outset, people were a little bit shocked and surprised that I would use this platform for this purpose, but I have to say people have been really positive,” he said.

“This is an example of how we can meet people where they are at in healthcare. It’s not what we often think about how healthcare messaging can be delivered, but I think it’s the way of the future.”

Finally, Dosani said he has had many conversations with people under the age of 40 and he said that public health officials need to take a different approach in order to engage them.

“They say we care about this virus, we care about this pandemic, we just don't resonate with messages that are really focused on blaming and shaming us and I think that’s fair,” he said. “Messages that are positive, engaging, innovative… that’s a way to connect.”