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.
You can watch the webinar on our YouTube page.
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:
- sivgreyson, Gender & Sexual Diversity Advocate
- sivgreyson is an autistic, Afrikan, and transgender liberation scholar. While their formal educational training is in Social Anthropology, Sociology, and Gender Studies, they have learned most of what they know from outside of the lecture hall. Their ideas of liberation are built upon their intimate desire to unlearn & undo ableism, racism, patriarchy, capitalism, cishetero-normativity, fatphobia, xenophobia, and all formations of the matrixes of domination, empowerment, and disempowerment. Since graduating university, sivgreyson has focused their work towards activism centred around queer and transgender rights. For most of 2022, they were appointed at the Deanery of the Faculty of Health Sciences UCT as the first Gender and Sexual Diversity Advocate but have since focussed on freelance research and facilitation work. Currently, siv is the co-researcher for a Position Paper on Gender-Affirming Healthcare and they are pursuing a Masters in Gender Studies at the Nelson Mandela University in Gqeberha, Eastern Cape.
- Ingrid Lynch, Senior Research Specialist, Human Sciences Research Council
- Dr Ingrid Lynch is a feminist researcher specializing in gender studies, with a particular focus on the intersection of health and social justice. She has extensive experience in Eastern and Southern Africa, as well as other Global South contexts. Previously, she led the Research, Advocacy, and Policy programme at Triangle Project, an LGBTIQ+ human rights organisation. She also brings over a decade of experience in designing and implementing policy-driven, community-based participatory research at the Human Sciences Research Council. As an independent consultant, her current work applies intersectional, feminist, and participatory frameworks to develop solutions for sustainable and equitable social change. She is also a Research Fellow in the Critical Studies in Sexualities and Reproduction Programme at Rhodes University, South Africa.
- Anastacia Tomson, GP with a special interest in LGBTQIA+ and gender-affirming healthcare
- Dr Anastacia Tomson (she/her) is an author and an activist, in addition to being a doctor. Shetis regarded as an expert on LGBTQIA+ and transgender healthcare, and led the team that wrote South Africatis first official guideline on gender-affirming hormone therapy. Anastaciatis lived experience as a queer, trans, autistic doctor drives her passion for making healthcare safer, more accessible, and kinder. She has an irrepressible drive for justice, and a profound capacity for compassion. When shetis not working herself ragged, you might find her running, building LEGO, gazing at her collection of fountain pens and exquisite inks whilst feeling guilty that shetis not using them to write or draw, or cooking up a delicious vegan storm.
- Jenna-Lee de Beer-Procter, Clinical Psychologist
- Dr Jenna-Lee de Beer-Procter (they/them) is a clinical psychologist based in Cape Town. They run an LGBTQIA-exclusive private practice and previously worked at the Wits RHI Transgender Clinic in Bellville, which closed following recent USAID funding cuts. Their experience spans the public sector, where they worked in the field of intellectual and developmental disabilities, and the NGO sector, with a focus on gender-based violence. Jenna-Lee is the vice-chair of the Professional Association for Transgender Health South Africa (PATHSA), a member of PsySSAtis Sexual and Gender Division African LGBTQIA+ Human Rights Project team—which recently published the Practice Guidelines for Psychology Professionals Working with Sexually and Gender-Diverse People 2nd Ed.—and a co-chair of the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH)tis International Diversification and Member Outreach Committee. They also contributed to the Southern African HIV Clinicians Societytis Gender-Affirming Healthcare Guideline for South Africa, specifically on informed consent and intellectual and developmental disabilities, and collaborate with Outright International on addressing conversion practices in Africa.
Due to the sensitivity of this webinar, no recording is available.
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:
- Duduzile Ndwandwe-Mshumi, Pandemic Preparedness & Vaccine Implementation, South African Medical Research Foundation
- Dr. Duduzile Ndwandwe is a distinguished professional, holding a Ph.D. in Molecular Mycobacteriology from the University of Witwatersrand. Her academic journey also includes a Master of Science in Microbial Genetics and an International Master in Vaccinology from the University of Lausanne, a Management Development Programme at Stellenbosch University, and a BSc Honours in Microbiology from the University of Limpopo. Currently serving as a Specialist Scientist at Cochrane South Africa, within the South African Medical Research Council (SAMRC), Dr. Ndwandwe leads vaccine implementation research and clinical trial registration projects. Her prior roles include Deputy Director at Cochrane South Africa and Senior Researcher at the Wits Reproductive Health & HIV Institute, where she led significant clinical trials. Earlier in her career, she held a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of KwaZulu-Natal and senior scientist roles in HIV prevention research at the SAMRC. Dr Ndwandwe’s research in vaccinology and public health has been published in numerous high-impact, peer-reviewed journals. She has successfully secured several prestigious grants from the MRC Trials Methodology Research Partnership and the EDCTP to support her innovative research projects. Actively engaged in national and international scientific committees, Dr Ndwandwe contributes critical insights that guide global public health policies and research. She is a member of the GloPID-R Data Sharing Working Group and the National Advisory Group on Immunisation. Dr Ndwandwe also plays a significant role as an educator and mentor, supervising and examining multiple postgraduate students across leading universities. Additionally, she contributes to scientific discourse as an editor for journals such as PlosOne and as a guest editor for the Vaccines Journal. Her leadership and expertise are further demonstrated by her involvement in various boards, including serving as the Board Chair for Eh! Woza and participating in advisory and working groups focused on infectious diseases and clinical trials.
- Mallory Harris, Postdoctoral Researcher, Department of Biology and Institute for Health Computing, University of Maryland
- Dr Mallory Harris is a Postdoctoral Associate in the Department of Biology and the Institute for Health Computing at the University of Maryland. She obtained her PhD in Biology from Stanford University and was a visiting graduate student at the Center for an Informed Public at the University of Washington. At Stanford, she was the President of Scientists Speak Up, an organization focused on communicating science and countering scientific misinformation. She uses quantitative methods to study the interplay between human behavior and infectious diseases.
- Hannelie Meyer, Professor and Head of the South African Vaccination and Immunisation Centre (SAVIC), Sefako Makgatho Health Sciences University
- Prof Hannelie Meyer is a Professor in the Department of Public Health Pharmacy and Management, at Sefako Makgatho Health Sciences University and Head of the South African Vaccination and Immunisation Centre. She serves on the World Health Organization Global Advisory Committee on Vaccine Safety, and chairs the African Union Smart Safety Surveillance Interim Joint Signal Management Group, facilitating cross-country signal management for health products in Africa. She is also a public health pharmacist who has served the South African pharmaceutical and public health sectors for 40 years. The Minister of Health appointed her to the National Immunisation Safety Expert Committee (which she chairs), the National Advisory Group on Immunisation, and the Board of the South African Health Products Regulatory Authority. She specialises in vaccine safety, vaccine hesitancy and vaccination as a pillar of antimicrobial stewardship. She is a National Research Foundation rated scientist, and her research aims to strengthen healthcare services, improve public health, and contribute towards reaching the sustainable development goal of good health and well-being.
- Sarah Downs, Project Manager, Epidemiologist (CHAMPS/ICE), Vaccines & Infectious Diseases Analytics (VIDA) Research Unit, University of the Witwatersrand
- Dr Sarah Downs (PhD, Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases, Wits University) is a researcher at Wits Vaccines & Infectious Diseases Analytics (VIDA), where she leads Impact, Communication and Engagement within the Child Health and Mortality Prevention and Surveillance (CHAMPS) program. CHAMPS collects, analyzes, and shares evidence to prevent child mortality, adverse pregnancy outcomes and other causes of death in adults. With experience and expertise in infectious disease surveillance, vaccines and clinical trials, her research focuses on epidemiology, maternal and child health, and science communication. Sarah was selected as one of 35 top-performing graduate students globally, for the Gates Notes Deep Dive on Pandemic Prevention and served on a reference group for a novel water-based COVID-19 surveillance project for non-sewered communities. She has contributed to vaccine literacy, public health messaging, and pandemic response through school and NGO presentations, webinars, and social media. Her science communication work has been featured on BBC, CNN, TIME, and Global Citizen Africa.
Register to express interest in attending the webinar.
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:
- Catriona Macleod, Psychology Department, Rhodes University
- Prof Catriona Ida Macleod is Distinguished Professor of Psychology and SARChI chair of Critical Studies in Sexualities and Reproduction at Rhodes University, South Africa. She has written extensively in national and international journals in relation to teenage pregnancy, abortion, sexuality education, pregnancy support, reproductive decision-making, sexual violence, sex workers, youth sexualities, and contraception. She is author of the multi-award winning book tiAdolescenceti, pregnancy and abortion published by Routledge in 2011, co-author (with Tracy Morison) of Mentis pathways to parenthood, published by HSRC Press, 2015, lead editor of The Palgrave Handbook of Ethics in Critical Research, published by Palgrave, 2018, co-author (with Pedro Pinto) of A Genealogy of Puberty Science, published by Routledge, 2019, and co-author (with Ulandi du Plessis) of Abortion Services and Reproductive Justice in Rural South Africa, published by Wits University Press, 2024. She was editor-in-chief of the international journal Feminism & Psychology from 2013 to 2024, and has written several technical reports and policy briefs. Her work has informed the South African National Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights Strategy Framework, and the National Abortion Guidelines. Her research has been taken up in interventions regarding alcohol use during pregnancy, abortion counselling and sexuality education. She has presented her work in multiple international forums, including to members of the House of Representatives, Congress and Senate in Washington DC. She is the recipient of the VCtis Distinguished Senior Research Award (2015), the VCtis Community Engagement Award (2015), the Social Change award (2017), South African Women in Science Award (2019), and the Lifetime Achievement Award from the International Society of Critical Health Psychology (2021).
- Deevia Bhana, South African Research Chair in Gender and Childhood Sexuality
- Prof Deevia Bhana is the South African Research Chair in Gender and Childhood Sexuality at the University of KwaZulu-Natal. Her research spans the intersecting domains of gender, sexualities, childhood studies and education. She has published 12 books including Girls and Porn in South Africa: Power, Play and Sexuality (2023, Routledge). Her latest book to be published in 2025 is Gender and Young Peopletis Digital Sexual Cultures (Palgrave MacMillan). She was awarded the HSRC/USaF award in the social sciences in 2022. Deevia Bhana is a B1 NRF rated researcher.
- Kim Jonas, Public Health Specialist Scientist, South African Medical Research
- Dr Kim Jonas is a Senior Specialist Scientist in the Health Systems Research Unit at the South African Medical Research Council. She leads a portfolio of research which seeks to understand the factors influencing the sexual and reproductive health (SRH) of adolescents and young people, including other vulnerable populations in low resource settings in South Africa. Her research specialty is on access and use of SRH services, unintended pregnancy prevention, HIV prevention, and universal health coverage (UHC); specifically universal access to SRH services. She has over 10 years working experience leading (as a PI/co-PI) several large cross-sectional household/school surveys, including implementation science studies. She is a Y-rated NRF scientist, an Review Panel (RP2) member for the WHO SRH Programme and Editor at the BMCtis Reproductive Health Journal. She has co-authored over 50 peer reviewed journal articles, 2 book chapters, 4 policy briefs and 6 research reports.
- Marion Stevens, Former Director, Sexual & Reproductive Justice Coalition
- Dr Marion Stevens has an academic background as a midwife, in medical anthropology, in public and development management and political science. They have worked in the field of sexual and reproductive justice for over 30 years. Their work has included conducting participatory research, policy analysis and development, project management, facilitation and governance and advocacy. They are the outgoing founding director of the Sexual and Reproductive Justice Coalition in South Africa and have just completed a term of sitting on the Gender Advisory Panel of the World Health Organisation where they have engaged on a national, regional and global level. They are currently writing up their PhD into a book where they document the construction from population control to sexual and reproductive health post-apartheid. This research illustrates how the legacy of apartheid and colonialism directly informs the social and political construction of sexual and reproductive health and rights. In addition they are providing technical assistance and consult in relation to sexual and reproductive health rights and justice to different agencies and organisations.
Register to express interest in attending the webinar.