In a fast-changing and polarised world, the need to fight falsehoods is greater than ever. This is what relevant stakeholders can do to tackle the underlying challenges facing the animal health sector.
Today’s global risk landscape is complex and ever evolving. Technological advancements, climate change, globalisation and shifting demographics are just some of the factors that are leaving people, animals and the environment they inhabit increasingly vulnerable to known and emerging risks, including infectious diseases, whether they are natural, accidental or deliberate in origin.
Information overload adds yet another layer of complexity. The current digital landscape has forever changed the way we access and consume news. Social media, prominently, allows for instant information flow. At the same time, digital technologies have fragmented media, giving online audiences a wide range of channels and outlets to source information from. Against this backdrop, the ability of individuals and institutions to tell fake news from real is continuously put to the test.
In the aftermath of the COVID-19 global crisis, international agencies, governments, scientists, the media, civil society groups and concerned citizens have been taking action to understand what the major challenges were and identify important lessons from the past.