Giving Compass' Take:

• The Artists Against an Infodemic initiative, launched in partnership with CatchLight and The Everyday Projects international media agency Dysturb, is raising awareness about COVID-19 misinformation through this art campaign. 

• How is art becoming a more nuanced vehicle to tackle social issues? What are you doing to address the 'infodemic' of false information about COVID-19 and public health? 

• Read how students are stopping the spread of COVID-19 misinformation. 

As world leaders continue to grapple with COVID-19, a second threat is rapidly emerging — that of misinformation and fake news.

From WhatsApp groups to social media platforms, hoaxes and conspiracy theories surrounding COVID-19 continue to spread at an alarming rate, prompting Director-General of the World Health Organization Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus to describe the situation as an "infodemic."

That is precisely what a new worldwide art campaign is hoping to tackle.

With its recent Artists Against an Infodemic initiative, launched in partnership with CatchLight and The Everyday Projects, international media agency Dysturb is raising awareness about racism in health care and fighting COVID-19-related misinformation through art.

The campaign is the result of an open call initiated in March with the support of the John S. Knight Fellowship, a grant awarded by Stanford University. With the added help of creative director Pamela Chen and infectious diseases physician-scientist Jenell Steward, the team identified a few relevant themes and sent out an open call for submissions. The call invited artists around the world to submit pieces addressing popular COVID-19 misconceptions, while other materials aimed to raise awareness around the importance of social justice, frequent handwashing, mental health care, and more.

"It was interesting to collaborate with artists who wanted their art to be used for public health purposes," Dysturb Co-Founder and Director Benjamin Petit told Global Citizen. "We're used to doing that with documentaries and photojournalism, but it was interesting to feature lighter elements such as cartoons, illustrations, and so on. The goal was to catch people's eye in a different way and to reach as many of them as possible, and I think we've succeeded quite well."

Read the full article about COVID-19 infodemic by Olivia Kestin and Sarah El Gharib at Global Citizen.