“If they can make penicillin out of mouldy bread, they can sure make something out of you.” The quote is attributed to Muhammad Ali, the legendary boxer, and I couldn’t stop smiling as I read the words in an unlikely book, picked up at an airport recently.

Did you know that penicillin was one of the first antibiotics to be discovered, and that the discovery was accidental? You don’t have to be a health enthusiast or science buff to marvel at the remarkable ways in which our body works, breaks, and heals.

Of course, we don’t have all the answers. Not yet. Science is ever-evolving, and so should our learning. Do vaginal whitening products work? What about the recent ads for products that cure diabetes? Beyond labelling the claims as ‘fake’ or ‘fact’, it’s important to understand why.

At First Check, while health fact-checking is the cornerstone of our work, we believe that providing access to credible health information and inspiring critical thinking are fundamental to winning the fight against health misinformation.

The Bihar Information and Media Literacy Initiative (BIMLI), conducted in partnership with JEEViKA (Bihar Rural Livelihoods Promotion Society) and DataLEADS, the parent organisation of First Check, shows how grassroots-level media literacy programmes can inoculate people against health misinformation.

First Check is making deliberate efforts to shine light on the myriad aspects of health, by way of fact-check stories, explainers, expert interviews and guest articles. Whether it’s debunking prevalent myths about tuberculosis or eye donation, or decoding long-held societal beliefs about ‘the only child’, our stories look at issues through a scientific lens to offer evidence-based insights that can – hopefully – inspire sound health decisions.

You can read all the First Check stories here. For crossword fans, we have a fun exercise. Give it a try, won’t you?

And finally, thank you for all the love and heartening feedback on our maiden online Coffee Table Book. Now, the book is out in its physical avatar and I can’t wait to hold it in my hands! (It’s in transit from Delhi to Bengaluru at the time of writing this.) Would you like a copy?

I’m always happy to hear from you. You can also connect with First Check on LinkedIn and X.

Jisha Krishnan
Editor
First Check