Says the online video sharing platform is working with hundreds of health authorities in many countries to increase the volume of high-quality and engaging health information

The mission of YouTube Health is to empower people to live their healthiest lives, helping them make informed decisions “through knowledge, belonging and inspiration and a real vision,” said Dr Garth Graham, Director and Global Head of Healthcare and Public Health at YouTube, in his presentation at the Health of India summit held in New Delhi on November 12.

“As health professionals, we want to empower communities with access to education and reliable information they need to lead a healthier life,” said Dr Graham who has spent the majority of his career focused on issues related to social determinants of health across many different parts of the healthcare industry. “And we’ve seen firsthand just how powerful video can be as a medium to reach people with health messages.”

The Health of India Summit which was supported by YouTube Health brought together top health leaders including Dr Graham who joined virtually to build conversations on the emerging challenges of health misinformation and how YouTube is actively working to increase the breadth of high-quality information whilst improving access to credible sources of health information.

A cardiologist and public health expert, Dr Graham previously served in two US administrations as US Deputy Assistant Secretary for Health.

Talking about YouTube’s initiatives in India, Dr Graham said that in March 2022, YouTube rolled out two new product features in India, making health source content available in English and Hindi.

“These features help to connect people with sources that they can rely on with new credibility cues that really guide users and consumers to understand the information they are receiving,” Dr Graham said. “And (we are) looking to point to more verified sources and high-quality videos and making those more visible in search results.”

Dr Graham continued that YouTube partnered with the Indian Ministry of Health to launch an information panel around COVID-19 to make sure locally relevant health information is available.

“We use YouTube’s homepage to direct users to the W.H.O., the Ministry of Health, Family and Welfare, or myGov in Hindi,” he said, adding YouTube has created a destination featuring 16 or more playlists across more than eight languages where users could find reliable answers to their questions from an authoritative source.

“The destination features content from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, also from myGov, India’s leading hospitals AIIMS, Apollo Hospital, and Max HealthCare.”

Dr Graham highlighted that over two billion people log in to YouTube every month and about a billion hours of YouTube content are being watched every single day. Around 500 hours of content was getting uploaded every minute across YouTube in over 80 languages spanning about 300 countries, he added.

“There’s about a billion hours of YouTube content watched every single day,” he said, adding people turn to YouTube for answers to health questions. “They look for a community who understands what they’re experiencing or even sometimes to find helpful videos that explain complicated medical information more easily. And this access to information is breaking all sorts of barriers from caste to geography to language.”

He said when users search for specific health conditions like lung cancer, breast cancer, lymphoma, hypertension or stroke, YouTube presents a video shelf of related health content from accredited and vetted health sources and institutions.

Spelling out the latest YouTube features regarding health-related issues, Dr Graham said, YouTube aims to protect viewers from content that poses a very serious risk of egregious harm by removing it and filling that space with accurate and credible content. “And lastly, we reward trusted eligible content with a wide range of monetization options,” he said.

Dr Graham said YouTube is working with hundreds of health authorities in many countries to increase the volume of high-quality and engaging health information. “We have robust policies in place to tackle issues around harmful misinformation,” he said. “This includes removing harmful COVID-19 misinformation, raising authoritative and credible information.”