Expanding equitable access to health information on YouTube
Sep 07, 2023 – minute read
Underrepresented and under-resourced communities historically have not always had a seat at the table when it comes to healthcare. That’s why an important part of YouTube Health’s mission is to increase equitable access to high-quality information, giving people the tools to make smart decisions about their own health.
Over the years, YouTube has launched new products to prominently feature authoritative health information, like content shelves at the top of search results, and labels that appear under videos letting viewers know if the content is from a licensed health professional. Today, we’re going even further to advance health equity and reimagine how health information is delivered and shared globally.
Beginning today and through October 5, 2023, eligible creators in the US, Canada, UK and Brazil can apply to the THE-IQ Creator Program.
First, we’re launching THE-IQ Creator Program to support health professionals creating high quality health content highlighting underrepresented communities. Beginning today and through October 5, 2023, eligible creators in the US, Canada, UK and Brazil can apply for the program, which includes access to workshops on YouTube best practices and video production, dedicated support from YouTube specialists, and up to $10,000 USD to assist with content creation.
THE-IQ, or Tackling Health Equity Through Information Quality, is a health equity program established in 2022 to bring diverse perspectives and health information from underrepresented communities to audiences on YouTube. THE-IQ kicked off with YouTube’s partnership with KFF, The Loveland Foundation, Reproductive Health (RH) Impact (formerly NBEC) and Satcher Health Leadership Institute to create videos examining health topics through an equity lens. Over 30 videos have already been published so far.
THE-IQ Creator Program helps health professionals meet people where they are – on YouTube – with messages that resonate. Creators can check their eligibility and apply here.
In addition, YouTube Health is collaborating with select health content creators to pilot an AI-powered dubbing tool - Aloud, which has recently become a part of YouTube. Making videos in multiple languages is crucial for overcoming language barriers, especially in a healthcare context, yet can be labor intensive for creators.
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While Aloud is initially available only to trusted testers on YouTube, we're starting to work with Mass General Brigham, Osmosis from Elsevier, The Journal of the American Medical Association and Global Health Media Project to make their health content available in Spanish and Portuguese, with more creators and languages to come. Aloud will help creators make the dubbing process easy and fast. And the YouTube Health team will work with clinicians to review translations, while the creators will have ultimate control over their dubbed videos.
Our goal with the pilot is to take the learnings and responsibly scale Aloud with health partners, so that they can more efficiently reach global audiences with critical health information at no cost. We hope to continue improving and expanding this tool to help even more health creators unlock authoritative health information that may otherwise be contained to a single language.
At YouTube, we believe that information is a key determinant of health. People from all walks of life are turning to online spaces for support that reflects their needs; everything from resources about a new diagnosis or symptom, to understanding personal health journeys. We’re taking important actions to address health information disparities, and remain committed to growing an accessible and equitable health content ecosystem on our platform for viewers and creators alike.