False Medical Information in the Media

Hello, my name is Guramrit and I am a sophomore at UC Berkeley, intending to study Economics and Business. This is my second year being part of BPSHI, and I am a part of the external community outreach committee. After finishing up my four years here at Berkeley, I plan to go to Optometry school and I have strong interests in health, specifically in the Punjabi/Sikh community.

Many people in our community get a majority of their news from outlets such as WhatsApp, Youtube, and Punjabi news channels. However, most of the information being spread throughout these various media outlets is either completely false, or has several false or fake components. Examples of such could be during the COVID-19 pandemic, where various ways to cure the virus were spreading through WhatsApp faster than the virus was, and all of them were completely false or had no medical backing behind them. The reasoning behind this is that many people in our community have a lack of trust in public/medical officials, and choose to trust desi treatments over medically proven ones.

The key takeaway is that the Punjabi/Sikh community needs to learn more about the various ways they can find truthful information and resources available to them. Additionally,

the community needs to fix its lack of faith in the medical system, which will help reduce the false information and help people receive the right treatment they need. Solutions include community outreach events from local government/medical professionals, pamphlets written in Punjabi, more members of the community joining the medical force, and of course BPSHI clinics at the local Gurdwara.