“Health is a measure of democratic resilience”, says Alain Berset, Secretary General of the Council of Europe, in an article entitled “Health in the age of disinformation: Protecting truth, protecting democracy”, published to mark the World Health Summit taking place in Berlin.
In today’s world, our resilience is being sorely tested — by disinformation, diminishing access to health services and by climate change — making it difficult for patients to know what to believe and whom to trust. And trust, as Berset says, is “the difference between lives saved and lives lost”.
Discussing the need to close the gaps between those with access to world-class health services and those without, Berset points out that it is often the communities facing poverty or discrimination who are hit hardest by mass disinformation. And while AI has is already making a positive difference in diagnosis, treatment and prevention, it carries tremendous ethical risks.
Arguing that public health cannot be separated from democratic systems and the need for clear boundaries between freedom of expression and the imperative for truth, Berset concludes that protecting health strengthens the very fabric of democracy — in Europe and beyond.
Read the Secretary General’s article
Conference on the protection of health
Secretary General Alain Berset
