Thesis presented to Presidency of the Republic contributes to strategy against fake news

How do disinformation and fake news affect public policies? Motivated by this question, Ergon Cugler de Moraes Silva, a graduate of Fundação Getulio Vargas’ Sao Paulo School of Business Administration (FGV EAESP), dedicated his academic master’s degree in public administration and government to investigating the role of community health agents in the public health system, amid renewed concern in the Health Ministry at the public’s growing misgivings about vaccines.

Supervised by Professor Gabriela Spanghero Lotta, the thesis “Disinformation at Street Level: How Community Health Agents Deal with Citizens’ Vaccine Hesitancy,” defended in February 2024, shows that community health agents use not only knowledge and logical and rational arguments, but also their local presence and relationships with fellow citizens to deal with concerns about vaccination. In addition, community health agents create support networks with colleagues and seek support to deal with uncertainties. The thesis also presents various suggestions for public policies aimed at improving the fight against misinformation and vaccine hesitancy.

Based on the suggestions made, Silva was invited by the Presidential Social Communication Secretariat to take part in a seminar called “Inter-Institutional Dialogue to Combat Disinformation in the Health Sector,” held in Brasilia on May 21, 2024, where he presented the findings of his thesis to the public officials present.

The seminar was attended by prosecutors from almost all the country’s states, as well as representatives of the Public Prosecutors’ Office National Council, Health Ministry, Justice and Public Security Ministry, Institutional Relations Secretariat and Brazilian Institute of Science and Technology Information, among other organizations.

At the end of his presentation, Silva answered questions from the public officials and gave feedback to the Committee to Combat Disinformation about the National Vaccination Program and Public Health Policies and the “Health with Science” movement. The later initiative is coordinated by the Health Ministry and Presidential Social Communication Secretariat, and supported by the Justice and Public Security Ministry, Federal Attorney General’s Office, Office of the Comptroller General and Ministry for Science, Technology and Innovation.

Based on the findings of his thesis and his presentation, Silva will now contribute to the development of a course to train 400,000 public health system workers throughout Brazil to tackle misinformation and vaccine hesitancy, as part of a target already set in Indicator 10,595, part of Specific Objective 451 of the Health Ministry’s 2024-2027 Multi-Year Plan. To read the full thesis, click here.