In the rolling hills of Lofa County, northern Liberia, health volunteers still walk from village to village carrying handwritten notes and portable radios. Their mission isn’t to distribute medicine or mosquito nets; it’s to fight a quieter but equally dangerous epidemic: health misinformation.
At a roadside gathering one afternoon, a local nurse explained to a small crowd why family planning does not cause irregular menstrual cycles or childlessness. This rumor has traveled faster than any virus. The villagers listened, nodded, and asked questions in Lorma and Kissi, their local languages.
“They believe us because they know us,” said one volunteer. “When we speak their language, the message enters their hearts.”
Here in Lofa, the response to misinformation is rooted in trust and proximity. With no national programme or digital infrastructure, community health volunteers, radio hosts, and local nurses use conversation, storytelling, and the credibility of familiar faces to correct false claims. “People listen when it’s someone they know,” another volunteer said. “That’s how truth travels here.”
Across the border in Nigeria, a different but complementary approach is taking shape. Through the Health Misinformation Management Fellowship in Niger and Lagos states, health workers, from nurses to traditional medicine vendors, are receiving formal training on how to identify and counter false health claims. Over several weeks, fellows have turned their new skills into community outreach, engaging thousands through school talks, hospital visits, and advocacy campaigns.
Together, both countries are experimenting with new ways to rebuild public trust in health information, proving that the fight against misinformation begins not just online, but in the hearts of communities.
Health Misinformation Across West Africa Between 2022 and 2025
Health misinformation has emerged as a persistent threat across West Africa, fueled by distrust in government, dependence on traditional medicine, and the rapid amplification power of social media.
In Liberia, 66% of people reported being “unlikely” to get vaccinated against COVID-19 in early 2021, with widespread beliefs that vaccines cause infertility, contain magnetic sensors, or are intended to reduce the population. These fears have also undermined routine childhood immunizations, made worse by poverty, illiteracy, and the viral spread of misinformation through group chats and radio conversations.
In Nigeria, roughly half of the population believed COVID-19 was a biological weapon before 2022, and anti-vaccine narratives have persisted through 2025. Fraudulent herbal remedies and claims that natural ingredients like garlic and ginger are “100 times more powerful” than orthodox medicine continue to spread. Younger Nigerians, especially Gen Z, encounter misinformation mainly on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube, while WhatsApp groups and digital channels of religious leaders amplify the problem.
The map below visualizes hotspots of misinformation intensity across West Africa: Ghana shows high COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy, while Clôte d’Ivoire and Senegal exhibit rising public concern over politically charged information manipulation. These regional patterns underscore the need for context-specific interventions and help explain why Liberia’s grassroots, trust-based engagement and Nigeria’s structured, fellowship-driven outreach have both emerged as important responses.
Solutions in Action: Rebuilding Trust Across Borders
Nigeria
In Lagos State, the fight against health misinformation has taken a structured, data-driven turn. Launched on August 4,184 people through verified health campaigns. Their outreach spanned multiple local government areas: Badagry, Amuwo Odofin, Ojo, Mushin, and Ikeja, where they engaged traders, students, and faith leaders with accurate information on diseases such as cholera, Mpox, Lassa fever, diphtheria, and anthrax. A public rally at Ikeja’s Computer Village, Lagos, in October 2024, held in collaboration with the Rotary Club of Lagos Prime, highlighted the program, promoting vaccination and myth-busting under the slogan “Care Before You Share.”
Participants described the fellowship as transformative. Favor Chinwe reflected, “I was really excited about the journey. I tested my public-speaking skills, my HealthFactCheck ability, and my collaborative skills. I became a better health educator without a doubt.” The programme also encouraged collaboration across sectors, linking the Lagos State Ministry of Health, the Primary Health Care Board, and local community groups such as the Christian Association of Nigeria.
Further north in Niger State, a grassroots approach complemented these structured interventions. A two-month fellowship trained a diverse group of health workers, from nurses and community midwives to patent medicine vendors, chemists, and traditional medicine practitioners who became trusted messengers within their communities. Through school, hospital, and community visits, fellows reached more than 5,000 people across several local government areas, including Tafa, Gurara, Gbako, Shiroro, Wushishi, and Bosso. They conducted advocacy visits to 15 community leaders and 50 health facility workers, while their online content drew over 2,000 impressions and 200 engagements. Activities ranged from intensive three-day training sessions to weekly cascade training on infodemic management, fact-checking, and behavioral change communication.
One fellow, Sumayya Abdulmalik, reflected on the experience: “If not for the project, I wouldn’t have known what health misinformation and disinformation were. I was able to reach people with higher levels of medical mistrust, and the impression on their faces was one of satisfaction and trust.” A community member, Yakubu Sheetu Shehu, echoed that transformation: “When my daughter was vaccinated in school, I was so furious. But after she explained what she learned through this project, she cleared my doubt and changed my belief against the vaccine.”
Recognizing the importance of reaching digitally connected populations, a parallel initiative engaged social media influencers, bloggers, and content creators. Twelve participants, selected from over 200 applicants, attended a three-day intensive in-person training in Abuja, followed by four virtual technical sessions over a period of 11 weeks. They were paired with WHO-trained mentors and grouped into cross-disciplinary teams to produce culturally relevant and localized content. Over the course of the fellowship, participants created 168 unique pieces, including 136 infographics, 10 videos, 10 blog posts, nine live interactive sessions, and two podcasts translated into Hausa and designed to resonate with diverse audiences.
The results were measurable and significant. Participants’ ability to assess health content credibility increased by 64%, confidence to address misinformation rose by 46%, and audience understanding of health misinformation improved by 31%, with a 10% increase in fact-checking behavior. Dr. George Uchendu, a fellow, noted, “The fellowship was an eye-opening experience… I got the opportunity to network with highly intelligent and like-minded people, rubbing minds and working on projects together.” Mentors and participants alike emphasized that blending in-person, digital, and collaborative approaches helped reach audiences across multiple channels while strengthening participants’ skills and professional confidence.
Across Lagos, Niger, and online platforms, these initiatives demonstrate a multifaceted response to health misinformation in Nigeria. Structured engagement, community trust, and digital innovation together are reshaping the way health messages are communicated, ensuring that verified information reaches diverse communities and that public confidence in healthcare is gradually restored.
In Lofa County, Liberia,
Combating misinformation is rooted in community trust and cultural knowledge. In an interview withTheophilus Umar the Lofa county health team, he said Local volunteers, nurses, and health workers conduct door-to-door outreach in villages, communicating in local languages such as Lorma and Alokisi Bandi. They focus on key health issues like family planning, HIV/AIDS, and malaria treatment. Local radio stations host programmes where trained medical practitioners provide accurate information, fact-check community rumors, and guide listeners toward trusted health sources. Social media and WhatsApp are also leveraged by volunteers to disseminate verified health messages.
“We focus on speaking in local dialects to reach communities effectively, ensuring people understand health guidance and can make safer choices,” explained Theophilus Umar of the Lofa County Health Team. This grassroots approach emphasizes trust and authority, ensuring that verified health professionals are the ones communicating medical guidance.
Challenges and Limitations in Combating Health Misinformation
Efforts to counter health misinformation across West Africa face several operational, engagement, and contextual challenges.
In Nigeria, logistical and operational constraints affected programme implementation.
Environmental obstacles such as heavy rainfall in Lagos, high transportation costs, and fatigue made community outreach difficult. Coordinating diverse stakeholders occasionally caused delays, while persistent misinformation required repeated sensitization, stretching available resources. Fellows in Niger struggled with limited time due to professional responsibilities, engagement fatigue during virtual sessions, and aligning perspectives among participants with diverse expertise. Communities in Lagos sometimes requested incentives to participate, showed desensitization to repeated messages, and demonstrated widespread knowledge gaps, complicating outreach efforts. Language and cultural barriers also required localization of messages, including translation into local languages like Hausa, to ensure effectiveness.
In Liberia, programmes faced additional challenges, including limited funding and resources for volunteers, inconsistent training and coordination, and weak digital capacity to counter online misinformation. Heavy reliance on traditional channels such as radio and community meetings left younger, tech-savvy audiences underserved. Sustainability was a concern due to volunteer fatigue and lack of incentives for continued engagement. Persistent mistrust in government health systems and limited monitoring and evaluation data further hindered the scalability and impact of Liberia’s community-driven approach.
Yet across both countries, health workers continue to adapt. From door-to-door outreach in Lofa to digital campaigns in Lagos, their persistence underscores a shared belief: misinformation can be countered when communities trust the messengers.
And in that quiet, patient work of rebuilding trust, truth still finds its strongest allies, the familiar voices who never stop speaking for it.
This story was made possible by Nigeria Health Watch with support from the Solutions Journalism Network, a nonprofit organization dedicated to rigorous and compelling reporting about responses to social problems.
