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.