Below are the citation and selected extracts of a new report in this week's Lancet
CITATION: World Report Volume 407, Issue 10533e6 March 14, 2026
Disinformation undermining humanitarian action
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(26)00507-6/fulltext?dgcid=raven_jbs_etoc_email
A new report by the IFRC shows how disinformation fuels hostility and leads to health-harming choices. John Zarocostas reports.
The surge in harmful disinformation is undermining humanitarian action and putting the lives of aid workers and communities at risk, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) has warned in its annual disaster report, published on March 5...
In his foreword, Jagan Chapagain, IFRC Secretary-General, said that “In every crisis I have witnessed...information is as essential as food, water, and shelter. But information can also cause harm. When false, misleading or deliberately manipulated, it can deepen fear, fuel discrimination, obstruct humanitarian access and cost lives.”...
Chikwe Ihekweazu, Executive Director of the WHO Health Emergencies Programme, told The Lancet: “Harmful information, as outlined in the report, can have a two-fold impact on delivering humanitarian assistance: it can fuel hostility and create fear towards communities and humanitarian workers, and can also lead people to make unsafe choices. One of these would be avoiding treatment for a health condition.”...
“Misinformation and disinformation are weakening the foundations of humanitarian health work. When trust in reliable information erodes, essential decisions—such as vaccinating a child, seeking care, or following outbreak guidance—can become harder for some to make”, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General, told The Lancet.
“At the same time, false narratives can isolate communities from those working to support them, even putting some health workers at risk. Protecting health today requires not only effective medicines and vaccines, but also safeguarding the integrity of the information people rely on”, he added.
HIFA profile: Neil Pakenham-Walsh is coordinator of HIFA (Healthcare Information For All), a global health community that brings all stakeholders together around the shared goal of universal access to reliable healthcare information. HIFA has 20,000 members in 180 countries, interacting in four languages and representing all parts of the global evidence ecosystem. HIFA is administered by Global Healthcare Information Network, a UK-based nonprofit in official relations with the World Health Organization. Email: neil@hifa.org