Dis/misinformation to Health Inequity

Authors: Alexandra Calaman, Anna Kabwa, Laura Voorhis, Madelyn Fried, Dasha Aguila

Field of Study: Global Public Health

Faculty Mentors: J. Koji Lum

Easel: 6

Timeslot: Morning

Abstract: Misinformation and disinformation related to health is spreading quickly on social media. Social media sites, geared toward quick content sharing and maximizing user engagement, have become the site for conspiracy theories that breed distrust. Anxiety about public health threats, such as COVID-19, has been harnessed by dis/misinformation, leading people to make decisions about their health with no scientific basis. This paper aims to reveal how health dis/misinformation functions as a public health risk factor and its real-life manifestation as new inequity of health outcomes on the basis of age.