WHO-backed HealthKraft unveils $5m creator fund to fight misinformation in healthcare

Healthkraft, a growing coalition of health professionals, digital creators, and global institutions, has announced a $5 million creator fund to scale credible health content across the continent. The new fund is aimed at reshaping how medical information is created and consumed in Nigeria,

The announcement was made at the Pioneer HealthKraft Creator Connect Lagos that brought together doctors, digital health advocates, and partners, including representatives from the World Health Organisation (WHO). The session addressed what speakers described as a widening gap between online health conversations and verified medical information.

Opening the session, HealthKraft founder Dr Olawale Ogunlana, popularly known as Dr Wales, said the shift of health discussions from clinics to digital platforms has created both opportunity and risk.

“Preventive medicine has moved from the four corners of a clinic to the four corners of a digital screen,” he said, noting that many patients now consult the internet before seeing a doctor.

However, the rise in online engagement has not been matched by an increase in credible voices. According to him, busy medical professionals have historically lacked the time and systems needed to produce consistent, high-quality content, leaving a vacuum that is often filled with misinformation.

Dr Wales repeatedly emphasised that no single doctor or creator can address the scale of the problem alone. Instead, collaboration and structured support systems were highlighted as critical.

Healthkraft itself was built around this idea, creating infrastructure that enables specialists, from cardiologists to dermatologists, to translate medical expertise into accessible digital content for wider audiences.

Dr Wales stressed that impact should not be measured solely by virality, noting that even modest engagement numbers can translate into meaningful health outcomes.

“If a video reaches 500 people, that is equivalent to speaking to 500 patients,” he said.

WHO flags misinformation threat

Andy Peterson, a WHO representative, warned that misinformation remains a major global health risk, particularly as more people begin their healthcare journeys online.

Through its Fides network (a global community of verified health creators), the WHO is working with platforms like YouTube and TikTok to amplify accurate content and support creators with data, training, and visibility.

The initiative also helps protect health creators from harassment and improves content reach through platform partnerships.

“Now more than ever, we have more misinformation online, but also more people starting their healthcare journeys online,” Peterson said.

HealthKraft’s $5m creator fund to scale impact

At the centre of the event was the unveiling of the Healthcraft Creator Fund, a $5 million initiative designed to support and scale Africa’s digital health ecosystem.

The fund aims to:

• Support at least 300 active health creators across Africa
• Train a minimum of 500 new medical content creators
• Provide grants, equipment, and production support
• Build dedicated medical media studios across key regions

The initiative will also offer institutional backing, including funding for high-quality health campaigns and documentaries, while lowering entry barriers for new creators.

Dr Wales noted that producing quality health content remains expensive, with many doctors currently funding production themselves. He added that combating misinformation requires more than individual effort.

“We cannot fight coordinated misinformation with underfunded enthusiasm,” he said.

Local innovation over migration

In a chat with Technext, Dr Folashade Adelekan Popoola, a consultant clinical haematologist and medical director at Next Haematology Medicare, challenged the popular narrative that relocating abroad is the only path to success for Nigerian healthcare professionals.

While acknowledging that such stories are valid, she noted they are often incomplete, overlooking the realities that come with starting over in new systems. Instead, she framed the decision as a matter of trade-offs. “Choose your hard,” she said, emphasising that both staying and leaving come with challenges.

For those who remain, she highlighted the unique opportunity to build solutions in underserved sectors. Drawing from her experience establishing an apheresis facility in Nigeria, she argued that local professionals can achieve both financial success and meaningful impact.

“Nobody is coming to save us,” she added, stressing the need for local ownership in fixing the healthcare system.

With increasing internet penetration and social media influence across Africa, stakeholders agreed that the future of healthcare will depend not just on clinical expertise, but on the ability to communicate it effectively.

As Healthcraft and its partners scale their efforts, the focus remains clear: turning digital platforms into tools for accurate health education rather than channels for misinformation.

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