MANILA, Philippines—Ever since the pandemic started, and even more when talks on vaccines began circulating online, Registered Pharmacist, Doctor of Pharmacy, and certified content creator Arshie Larga has regularly been making the rounds online, and for good reasons, on Twitter and TikTok for his entertaining and educational content.
A lot of his videos center on answering questions regarding health, wellness, COVID-19, the vaccine, and many other concerns in medicine, delivered in under one minute of easy-to-understand explanations, and even dance challenges.
He recently reached the 2 million mark on TikTok (@arshielife), while growing his 67K-following on Twitter (@Arshiethromycin), through this type of content. Some of his most notable recent posts include differentiating generic versus branded medicine, the importance of achieving “Herd Immunity” (something we’re hearing a lot on the news lately), and the issue on fully vaccinated patients still testing positive for COVID-19, to name a few.
While there’s a number of ways one can grow a following on TikTok, Larga’s informational and entertaining content comes at the perfect time when we’re all feeling confused about the medical terms and issues being discussed that most of us remain clueless about—and it shows on his rapidly growing following. His engagement numbers per post reveals just how needed and lacking information is for most Filipinos, especially when it comes to the medical world. And in a time when seemingly every action we have in the outside world is dictated by our health, we need all the information we can get.
This said, Larga’s vertical videos stand out among all the other “medical” accounts on the platform is his use of colloquial words to explain things in layman’s terms, the Filipino language so it’s a lot easier for most of us to absorb, and his dancing that just makes the whole video very light and fun, and unintimidating. He also takes it upon himself to answer very practical and even situational medical questions that might seem irrelevant for some professionals, but are actually incredibly important for us to know. This includes addressing people’s concerns about the vaccine, debunking health myths like home remedy drugs, down to what it really means to be “immune” to antibiotics.
What’s interesting about it is that these are all questions sent in to Larga’s social media accounts that his followers, some without access to medical professionals outside the realms of free Internet, really want to know, which points to the fact that many Filipinos don’t know where else to get this information from. Or, something that’s also very possible, is the fact that most of us just don’t understand what’s currently being shared by mainstream media and news–0r a mixture of the two, especially in a time when most people are just relying on social media for news and health reminders.
But whatever the case may be, his spike to Internet popularity is undoubtedly fueled by the glaring information gap for Filipinos on all things medicine and health. His content answers a very specific need in our society at this time of pandemic. That is, accessible, straightforward, and understandable sources of information targeted to the typical working Filipino.
Arshie Larga’s content and other Pinoy medical TikTok creators could be a rich pool of human resource that the Department of Health (DOH) can support to roll out essential medical information for all. In doing this, they might be able to reach a younger demographic, and even older folks who don’t have the resources or time to scour the Internet for information.
While that’s not currently the case, however, Larga’s TikTok videos are a welcome source of facts and guidance for Filipinos across the country. Especially at this time when we’re all trying to quickly absorb new information about COVID-19 variants, different vaccine brands and side effects, and other personal health concerns.
While TikTok is all the rage right now, there’s perhaps no better way to spread information at a rapid pace while still staying true to our fun and quirky nature as media consumers.
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