The mainstream media is at the forefront of ensuring that accurate medical information is available to the public, and “inaccurate journalism can generate both false hopes and unnecessary fears” (Noordeen and Hettiarachchi 2020, 37). For example, during the recent COVID-19 pandemic, the African Centre from Disease Control (2021) found that those who followed the mainstream media in getting news about the pandemic and subsequent vaccines were more likely to follow the latest medical advice than those who relied on social media for their information. Nevertheless, in the South African media, medical misinformation is on the increase (Kariuki et al. 2023), and journalists are especially vulnerable to receiving misinformation from seemingly credible sources such as medical doctors, who are nonetheless not experts in the particular medical field about which they claim expertise. For example, South African science journalists have admitted that scientists are often put on a pedestal and the information they provide is often uncritically absorbed (Franks et al. 2023). They further admit that they have difficulty keeping up with the latest research across scientific fields. In addition, journalism schools do not typically cover how journalists can identify “fake news” in their undergraduate offerings (Mutsvairo and Bebawi 2019).
Medical misinformation that circulates in the media can lead to, for example, HIV/AIDS related deaths, prejudice and stigma, low vaccination rates, difficulty accessing proper care for transgender individuals, including prejudice and stigma. Therefore, it is imperative that journalists know how to verify medical information being shared and identify medical misinformation.
Principal investigator: Dr Rebecca Pointer
Co-investigator: Dr Christel Antonites
Webinar One: Medical Misinformation Overview (11 April 2025)
Friday 11 April, 1pm-2.30pm
Hosted by: Rebecca Pointer Co-Host: Christel Antonites
This webinar provides an overview of the importance of getting the facts right when presenting medical information to the public. International research has highlighted that some medical practitioners, who do not have expertise in specific areas of medicine, nevertheless set out to mislead the public about the latest advances – often in order to promote alternative care with unproven scientific efficacy or to promote discriminatory practices in medicine. This webinar aims to equip journalists with a basic overview in fact checking medical information, including how journalists can meet their responsibility to do further research and create their own, independent, content.
Panelists:
- Mark Heywood. Adjunct Professor at the Nelson Mandela School of Governance, University of Cape Town
- Mark Heywood is a South African human rights and social justice activist based in Johannesburg. He studied English language and literature at Balliol College, Oxford University and later African literature at the University of the Witwatersrand. His political activism commenced in the early 1980s in England as a member of the Militant Tendency and continued in South Africa as a leader of the Marxist Workers Tendency of the ANC. After South Africa achieved its liberation in 1994 he joined the AIDS Law Project alongside justice Edwin Cameron and Zackie Achmat.
- KL Dunkle, Centre for Sexualities AIDS & Gender, University of Pretoria
- KL Dunkle, MPH PhD is a social epidemiologist with over 20 years of experience in leading and supporting research on the prevention and response to sexual and gender-based violence, both in sub-Saharan Africa and globally. KL is deeply committed advocating for evidence-driven programmes and policy and to improving health outcomes for marginalised populations, particularly within LGBTQIA+ communities and people with disabilities. They are a public health consultant, an NRF-rated scientist, an Honourary Research Associate at the Centre for Sexualities, AIDS & Gender at the University of Pretoria and an Adjunct Associate Professor in the Hubert Department of Global Health at Emory University.
- Kirsten Cosser, Africa Check Researcher
- Kirsten Cosser is a researcher at Africa Check, the continent’s first independent fact-checking organisation. Her work focuses on debunking falsehoods, improving the accuracy of public debate in South African media, and empowering people to critically navigate a fast-evolving digital world.
- Natasha van Antwerpen, School of Psychology, University of Adelaide
- Natasha van Antwerpen is a lecturer in the University of Adelaide School of Psychology. She is interested in the use of interdisciplinary and systems thinking approaches to encourage constructive responses to societal challenges. Her research investigates the role of the news media in misinformation, and the influence of constructive journalism on trust, beliefs, and emotions using mixed methods.
RSVP here to receive the webinar link.
Webinar Two: Medical Misinformation and Transgender Care (9 May 2025)
Friday 9 May, 1pm-2.30pm
Hosted by: Rebecca Pointer Co-Host: Christel Antonites
In other parts of the world, medical misinformation about transgender care is leading to appropriate care being criminalised and transgender individuals therefore not being able to access the kinds of care that they to live a happy and fulfilled life (Lepore, Alstott, and McNamara 2022; Billard 2024). This misinformation is being deliberately spread by rightwing Christian groups who believe that transgender care goes against their religious beliefs, and who therefore equate appropriate care with child abuse (Alstott et al. 2024). Instead they propose that transgender individuals should undergo “exploratory therapy”, which treats trans patients with suspicion, claiming they are suffering “with unprocessed trauma, childhood abuse, internalized homophobia or misogyny, co-occurring mental illness, social contagion, autism, sexual fetishism, and unconscious drives” (Ashley 2023). The groups spreading the misinformation are well-funded and able to launch global campaigns and campaigns in individual countries – including Southern Africa (Lynch 2024). While the South African Constitution guarantees protections for transgender individuals, some anti-trans groups, sometimes posing as medical experts, are actively lobbying government to roll back appropriate care for transgender people. Therefore, it is essential that journalists are able to assess the information being provided and the credentials of those providing the information.
Panelists:
- Siv Greyson, Gender & Sexual Diversity Advocate
- Dr Ingrid Lynch, Senior Research Specialist, Human Sciences Research Council
- Dr Anastacia Tomson, GP with a special interest in LGBTQIA+ and gender-affirming healthcare
- Dr Jenna-Lee de Beer-Procter, Clinical Psychologist
Webinar Three: Medical Misinformation and Vaccines (11 July 2025)
Friday 11 July, 1pm-2.30pm
Hosted by: Rebecca Pointer Co-Host: Christel Antonites
Vaccinations are a key component for improving global health. However, vaccine hesitancy has been growing ever since falsified data was published and later withdrawn in a 1998 paper published in The Lancet incorrectly linked vaccines and autism (Godlee, Smith, and Marcovitch 2011). During the COVID-19 pandemic, vaccine hesitancy reached alarming heights as vaccine disinformation spread across the world (Walter, Ophir, and Ye 2023). Even before governments could launch their pro-COVID-19 vaccine campaigns, anti-vaccination groups kicked into gear to spread doubt (Kalichman et al. 2022), increase concern about unforeseen side effects and commercial profiteering, and punt a preference for natural immunity (Huynh 2023). South Africa is one of the countries with the highest rates of vaccine hesitancy (around 30%) (Bangalee and Bangalee 2021). Interviews with South Africans established that hesitancy was related to socioeconomic conditions, and access to healthcare, education and accurate information. Further low confidence in vaccines has been attributed to disinformation being spread on social media, while insufficient attention has been given to targeted public health messaging. Vaccine misinformation can lead to low uptake of vaccines, which in turn can lead to unnecessary deaths. To prevent such unnecessary deaths, it is crucial for journalists who write about vaccines to understand how they work and how to identify misinformation.
Panelists:
- TBC
Webinar Four: Medical Misinformation and Sexual Health (5 September 2025)
Friday 5 September, 1pm-2.30pm
Hosted by: Rebecca Pointer Co-Host: Christel Antonites
South Africa accounts for about 20% of global HIV patients (Asabor et al. 2021) and adolescent girls account for about 80% of all new HIV infections in sub-Saharan Africa (Pleaner et al. 2022). At the same time teenage pregnancy rates are higher than global averages, especially in rural areas (Naidoo, Muthukrishna, and Nkabinde 2021), and other sexual transmitted diseases are on the rise (Damian, Hlungwane, and Tshitangano 2024). While availability of condoms and contraceptives is a problem, sexual reproductive health myths circulating among youngsters contributes to the situation, including rumours about the harms caused by contraceptives (Jonas et al. 2022) and belief in “mythical mixtures made from boiling aloe or morula tree”, yoghurt in the vagina or vaginal steaming (Damian, Hlungwane, and Tshitangano 2024, 1). LGBTIQ+ adolescents also experience difficulties accessing accurate information about their sexual health as same-sex sexualities are still treated as deviant by many teachers teaching about sexuality (Francis 2019). The media also rarely covers topics of LGBTIQ+ sexual health and when covering LGBTIQ+ people mostly focuses on annual Pride Week and Pride festivals/marches (Media Monitoring Project, n.d.) or as, especially regarding queer Blackwomxn, as victims of gender violence (Mailula 2020). While appropriate sexual and reproductive health education in schools are essential, the media also has a role to play in combatting misinformation and promoting good sexual health practices (Iacoella, Gassmann, and Tirivayi 2022).
Panellist:
- Prof Catriona, Psychology Department, Rhodes University
- Deevia Bhana, South African Research Chair in Gender and Childhood Sexuality
- Kim Jonas, Public Health Specialist Scientist, South African Medical Research
- Dr Marion Stevens, Former Director, Sexual & Reproductive Justice Coalition