Towards a More Inclusive and Dynamic Understanding of Medical Mistrust Informed by Science

Mistrust of medical advances and the medical professions continues to persist, and is perhaps increasing. The popular press has documented the growing number of parents globally whose concerns around childhood vaccination, albeit based on faulty scientific information, has led to the anti-vax movement which has already resulted in outbreaks of measles in various parts of the U.S. In recent years, the AIDS Healthcare Foundation has increased speculation and mistrust with regard to the denialism of the effectiveness of pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) to avert HIV infections, again based on misinformation. However, in other cases, medical mistrust reflects the very real historical and ongoing injustices…