The WHO launches a campaign to build trust in science
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In recent years, US President Donald Trump and other political leaders have attacked science, particularly during the Covid pandemic. On Friday in Geneva, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced that it will launch a new initiative, “Together for Science and Health”, next Tuesday.
“The loss of trust has been limited,” the organisation’s chief scientist, Sylvie Briand, told reporters in Geneva.
A survey conducted in nearly 150 countries found that more than 70% of people still trust science, she said. However, this figure has been falling since 2018, and the decline is most pronounced in communities with the least access to the benefits of scientific progress.
When citizens trust science, they are more likely to rely on scientific guidance when making decisions about their health. The same is true of policymaking when leaders base their decisions on scientific evidence, the WHO says.
Examples include anti-vaccine rhetoric in the United States and mistrust of the response to the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). “Diseases come back when vaccination rates fall,” the WHO official said.
Less trust can mean less investment, she said. And less investment leads to fewer scientific advances. Yet artificial intelligence (AI) and other technologies are rapidly changing the possibilities not only in healthcare but also in science, according to Briand.
On Tuesday, dozens of discussions are planned around the world to mark the launch of the new movement. This will bring together scientists, policymakers, healthcare workers, civil society and community representatives.
It aims to bridge the gap between science and society, strengthen the link between science and policy, and combat misinformation. Among the possible measures, the research processes of certain laboratories could be awarded a quality label that would serve as a guarantee of reliability, says the WHO official.
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Translated from French, reviewed by an English Department journalist.
