Misinformation Malady
Ajish Francis
“Just like how the alcohol in a sanitizer kills the virus on your palm, this one kills the one inside”.
The context – My neighbor, a modest bottle of cashew feni, and a mind incapable of busting another pandemic myth. So I poured myself some of this ‘concoction’ and pondered, not over the complex pharmacodynamics that I had just heard. More importantly, I needed answers. Why is misinformation more palatable to society today and what more can be done. Among the many pages of Parks Textbook of Preventive and Social Medicine, one finds the mention of a campaign about as old as the book itself. The Alma Ata Declaration of 19781 is considered one of the greatest achievements in the annals of public health. Born out of an ideology to make ‘Health For All’ a reality it also discusses health education and its principles. Healthcare has since become the responsibility of the ones for whom it is meant, the community. Formulation of policies is not just the burden of the government and the medical professionals anymore but also the people to whom it affects. It springs from a proposition that the members of the society have a better idea about the problems that affect them and know how to manage their healthcare systems with the available resources.
But this brings us to a conundrum, in a country with a low level of health literacy does the public know its needs? Based on the REALM 2 (Rapid Estimate of Adult Literacy in Medicine) tool, a survey conducted in Karnataka showed two interesting inferences. One, the medical literacy of the participants was significantly better among those educated with English as a medium of instruction. Two it was significantly better among those who pursued a course with a scientific background and those who did postgraduation. English is the language of science and no amount of fingers pointed at postcolonial scars can deny that. Taking nothing away from vernacular mediums of instruction, the health of the society is much heavier when weighed against the pride of linguistic and cultural traditions. Perhaps it’s because of the very same pride that people are deluded to think of urea as the elixir of life. ‘The Science is too sciency..’ This was the response I got when I forwarded an article busting the myth of jaggery being an ideal substitute for sugar in diabetes.
We at times forget that the jargon and even the frame of writing that comes so naturally to us are not written in a language that’s friendly for the public. As doctors, we have become good at ‘dumbing down the science’ to our patients when it comes to ailments. It’s time we start dumbing down scientific journals too. I wouldn’t be wrong in saying that a health magazine that is in tune with the current era has a huge economic and social potential. There was a radiology form that got popular on Instagram and WhatsApp forwards. The indication for the scan was that the patient believed that his right kidney was stolen by the doctor. Jokes apart, the question of mistrust among the public for modern medicine is huge. The media has helped in all possible ways to nurture the hate. But addressing and acknowledging these things are very important or we would see far worse implications than the ones that are already caused by the anti-vax army. As I took another sip my phone buzzed. My neighbor had sent a forward elaborating on all the antioxidants and nutrients present in the local brew.
I went through the message. It had elaborated all the facts in a manner that made it look scientific while being a layman at the same time. It was so convincing that I had to cross-check the information on Google. We live in a time where even false information looks so convincing that it needs to be studied to debunk it. Probably that’s what we are missing. In an era where information travels on fancy WhatsApp forwards, we are too busy posting banners on roads.
