Medical Misinformation. Who to trust in health matters? /Civic Thought Club

5G weakens the immune system, vaccines cause autism, and the COVID-19 pandemic is the result of a global conspiracy by governments and pharmaceutical companies. Who among us has not heard or read such revelations at least once? Who to trust in matters of health so as not to fall victim to medical misinformation?

In recent years, the number of cases of infectious diseases, including measles and whooping cough, has risen again in Europe, according to data from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control. The Chief Sanitary Inspectorate does not rule out that this may be associated, among other things, with increasing health misinformation.

The report “Medical Misinformation” of the Medical University of Wroclaw indicates that messages referring to anxiety and uncertainty, offering simple answers to complex problems, have a particularly strong impact. They are also favored by the social media environment. According to the WHO, fake information is 70 percent more likely to be shared on some platforms than true information.

Books about hidden therapies, natural healing methods and miraculous healings are willingly bought in Poland. At the same time, the market of dietary supplements is already worth more than PLN 8 billion, according to “Rzeczpospolita”. Compared to other European consumers, Poles constitute the largest group. Meanwhile, the legal regulation of the marketing of these products faces obstacles in the Polish parliament.

Where does the naivety of patients come from? Who is responsible for spreading false health information? Are there effective mechanisms to hold their authors and distributors accountable? We will look for answers to these and other questions during the debate among experts, to which I invite this debate — says Prof. Janusz Rachoń, head of the Tadeusz Mazowiecki Civic Thought Club.

The organizers of the meeting are: Tadeusz Mazowiecki Civic Thought Club, ECS and ECS Foundation.

Guests Natalia Gruenpeter | expert of the Center for Disinformation Analysis, NASK Paweł Zagożdżon | psychiatrist, Gdańsk Medical University, Department of Hygiene and Epidemiology Piotr Paluchowski | historian, Medical University of Gdańsk, Department of History, Ethics and Philosophy of Medical Sciences

Led by Szymon Tasiemski | student of healthcare management and innovation, Copenhagen Business School, Civic Thought Club