Welcome to the inaugural session of the forthcoming Rooted in Trust Research (RIT) Webinar Series. This series presents a unique opportunity to delve into the various research projects generated by the Rooted in Trust (RiT) initiative at Internews. Rooted in Trust (RiT) is a pandemic information response plan responding to the unprecedented scale and speed of the spread of rumors and misinformation about health emergencies.
In our first session, we introduced our research paper, 'Inequity-Driven Mistrust' This study addresses a critical gap in existing literature, offering a deeper understanding of a frequently overlooked yet significant factor in mistrust and misinformation. Focusing on Northern Iraq and the Southern Colombian Amazon, the research explores inequity's role in fostering mistrust in health information within at-risk communities, the impact of inequity-driven mistrust on managing infodemics and responding to humanitarian health emergencies, and strategies to address deeply rooted mistrust. This research underscores the profound impact of systemic inequities on information trust and emphasizes the need to address these challenges in humanitarian contexts.