Peters Laura E R, Charnley Gina E C, Roberts Stephen, Kelman Ilan
Department of Risk and Disaster Reduction, University College London, London, UK.
College of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR, USA.
Glob Health Action. 2025 Dec;18(1):2562380. doi: 10.1080/16549716.2025.2562380. Epub 2025 Sep 23.
The COVID-19 pandemic laid bare the unpreparedness of global and public health systems to respond to large-scale health crises, while simultaneously revealing the entangled nature of disinformation and poor global and public health outcomes. This research challenges the common treatment of public health disinformation - deliberately false information - as an emergent and technical threat, and instead situates it as a more systemic and nuanced challenge for global health governance to address. This article presents an integrative narrative literature review on the interlinkages between public health disinformation, conflict, and disease outbreaks, demonstrating mutually influencing connections between them. In doing so, the analysis raises critical questions around how reactive responses, such as doubling down on information authority, can paradoxically fuel the uptake of both disinformation especially amidst global trends towards increasing conflict and decreasing cooperation. In this evolving sociopolitical landscape for global health, the discussion explores the potential to harness health diplomacy to strengthen critical public engagement and deliberation. This reimagined approach to health diplomacy offers pathways to mitigate the harmful effects of disinformation rather than seeking to eliminate false information. This article contributes to deepening an understanding of this rapidly expanding topic for global and public health in two pathways. First, by investigating the root causes and impacts of public health disinformation that intersect with conflict. Second, by exploring how health diplomacy can foster cooperative global health governance through transparency and inclusion. This research offers a new direction to strengthen preparedness for future global and public health crises amidst disinformation.
新冠疫情暴露了全球和公共卫生系统应对大规模健康危机时的准备不足，同时也揭示了虚假信息与糟糕的全球及公共卫生结果之间的纠缠不清。这项研究对将公共卫生虚假信息（故意编造的虚假信息）视为一种新出现的技术威胁的常见处理方式提出了质疑，而是将其定位为全球卫生治理要应对的一个更具系统性和细微差别的挑战。本文对公共卫生虚假信息、冲突和疾病爆发之间的相互联系进行了综合叙述性文献综述，展示了它们之间相互影响的关系。在此过程中，分析提出了一些关键问题，比如像强化信息权威这样的应激反应，如何反而会在全球冲突加剧、合作减少的趋势下，反常地助长虚假信息的传播。在这种全球卫生领域不断演变的社会政治格局中，讨论探索了利用卫生外交加强关键公众参与和审议的潜力。这种重新构想的卫生外交方法提供了减轻虚假信息有害影响的途径，而不是试图消除虚假信息。本文通过两条途径，有助于加深对这个全球和公共卫生领域迅速扩展的主题的理解。第一，通过调查与冲突相交织的公共卫生虚假信息的根源和影响。第二，通过探索卫生外交如何通过透明度和包容性促进合作性的全球卫生治理。这项研究为在虚假信息环境下加强对未来全球和公共卫生危机的准备提供了一个新方向。
