Trust In Governments And Health Workers Low Globally, Influencing Attitudes Toward Health Information, Vaccines
Trust – particularly during emergencies – is essential for effective health care delivery and health policy implementation. We use data from the 2018 Wellcome Global Monitor survey (comprising nationally-representative samples from 144 countries; n=149,014 respondents) to examine levels and correlates of trust in governments and health workers, and attitudes toward vaccines. Only one-quarter of respondents globally trust their government a lot (more common among people with less schooling, living in rural areas, financially comfortable, and at older ages); and less than half of respondents globally trust doctors and nurses a lot. People's trust in these institutions is correlated with trust in health or medical advice from them, and with more positive attitudes toward vaccines. Vaccine enthusiasm varies substantially across regions with safety concerns as the most common concern. Policymakers should understand that the public may have varying levels of trust in different institutions and actors. Although much attention is paid to crafting public health messages, it may be equally important -- especially during a pandemic -- to identify appropriate, trusted messengers to deliver those messages more effectively to different target populations.
