Facts aren’t enough to fight disinformation, health leaders say

Global health organizations are navigating an increasingly challenging space with misinformation and disinformation eroding trust in institutions, making it harder to reach people with lifesaving interventions such as vaccines. But just responding to the lies may not always be the best option. While the ideas may be “dumb,” the people behind disinformation campaigns aren’t, said Ben Phillips, director of communications at UNAIDS. “Sometimes we underestimate our opponents because they're pursuing something that's so abhorrent and so illogical that we can sometimes assume that they must be people without a plan. But they've got a plan. They're very well organized. They're very well networked,” he said during a Devex Pro leader roundtable event. Responding to the lies could just end up amplifying them, he said. “One of my favorite sayings is that you should never wrestle with a pig because you both get dirty and the pig enjoys it,” he added. Building and keeping the trust in communities is key. But to do that, having the right message isn’t enough. Organizations need to identify what it is they actually want to accomplish and who they want that message to reach. This way, they can then figure out who or what the best platform is to reach people and get them to action. “I think what we really have to do to figure out who is influential is figure out who we're trying to reach. And I think a lot of times communication strategies don't boil down enough,” said Christy Feig, head of communications at the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. The influential figure or platform can be a news outlet, a street theater, faith-based leaders, or women business leaders. In Nigeria, the high number of female entrepreneurs is “probably a very strong group of champions and voices that have been underutilized,” said Marshall Stowell, founder of Intentional and an adviser at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. “Who are the voices that have something to say but just haven't been invited in? And I think part of that is getting out of the routine of events that we generally turn up at and the conversations we tend to have over and over again,” he said. In addition, he said while using statistics and facts are important, it should not be all. “It's values and emotions that move people. So we've really got to pair that better if we want things to change,” he said.