The Rockefeller Foundation has announced a $13.5 million commitment to help strengthen COVID-19 public health response efforts in the United States, Africa, India, and Latin America.

A response to the recently released advisory from the Surgeon General, Confronting Health Misinformation: The U.S. Surgeon General's Advisory on Building a Healthy Information Environment, the commitment includes funding to help design and evaluate interventions, tools, and methods to build trust in COVID-19 vaccination efforts; conduct research aimed at understanding how inaccurate health information impacts online and offline behaviors; evaluate the true cost of mis- and disinformation on health and economic outcomes; and determine the most effective strategies to counter and manage inaccurate and harmful information. To that end, funded projects will provide a foundation for modern information and communication networks that better serve people and are better prepared to encourage actions and behaviors essential to public health response efforts.

"By identifying mis- and disinformation as a challenge to our collective health, the Surgeon General's guidance reinforces the Rockefeller Foundation's role in investing in data-driven public health interventions to meet the unique challenges of today's media environment," said Rockefeller Foundation chief of global public health strategy Bruce Gellin.

"Science alone is not sufficient to drive action: the best data analysis in the world will not stop an outbreak if people at risk are not aware of the problem, do not think it is a real threat, do not trust the messenger, or do not know what actions to take to protect themselves and their loves ones," said Estelle Willie, director of health policy and communications at the Rockefeller Foundation. "The Rockefeller Foundation's $13.5 million commitment is a direct acknowledgment that effective public health begins with effective communication that cuts through the noise and confusion stemming from mis- and disinformation."

(Photo credit: Gettyimages / Mongkolchon Akesin)