Health (Mis)Information: Understanding and Countering Infodemics

This course explores the rise, spread, consequences, and solutions to the urgent challenge of health misinformation, with a focus on developing practical skills to identify, counter, and prevent their harms. Through an interdisciplinary lens, students will examine how false and misleading health information spreads across in-person and online networks, the sociopolitical and psychological drivers behind it, and its effects on public trust, behaviors, and health outcomes. Through practical application (e.g., case studies, media analysis, strategic communication exercises, interactive workshops), this course equips students with timely, marketable skills to critically assess information credibility, design trust-building and identity-aware messages, and deploy strategic counter-misinformation tactics. Assignments include analyzing real-world examples of health misinformation, translating scientific content into plain language formats, infographics, op eds, podcasts, and videos, and developing a counter-misinformation campaign grounded in evidence and equity-informed communication principles. This course prepares future public health professionals to communicate clearly, ethically, and persuasively in today’s polarized, algorithm-driven communication environment and to respond effectively to health falsehoods with clarity, credibility, and impact in the pursuit of better health for all.