Description of the website

The website of Gezondheid en Wetenschap (Health and Science) is a member of the WHO-led project Vaccine Safety Net (VSN).

The Flemish website Gezondheid en Wetenschap provides evidence-based health information in plain language for the general public. The website has a ‘vaccine fact check’, developed in collaboration with the Centre for the Evaluation of Vaccination - Vaccine and Infectious Disease Institute University of Antwerp. We search and fact check news about vaccines circulating in the media, on websites and on social media twice a month.

Website’s sponsorship policy

The website Gezondheid en Wetenschap is mostly funded by the Flemish government of Belgium (Agentschap Zorg en Gezondheid). Next to this funding, the website has several partnerships with non-profit organizations. Some of these partners also provide financial support. This is the case for the Red Cross Flanders and the University of Antwerp. Gezondheid en Wetenschap gets some extra funding by publishing books about health literacy for the lay public. Three books are available in Dutch: ‘Van chocolade word je slimmer’ (also available in German), ‘Champagne voorkomt dementie’ and ‘Dokter Google. Vriend en vijand’.

Gezondheid en Wetenschap does not allow advertising.

There are no conflicts of interest.

Website’s content or editorial policy

The website Gezondheid en Wetenschap has 2 main goals:

1) Make evidence-based guidelines for professionals available in a plain language and keep them up to date. Done by general practitioners and discussed with a patient panel, for which we developed a method. Updating coordinated by S. Boonen M.D. on a half-time basis.

Info: https://www.gezondheidenwetenschap.be/richtlijnen

2) Debunking health information from the (social) media to improve health literacy, 5 times a week. Done and peer reviewed by medical doctors, an epidemiologist, nutrition experts and edited by linguists. We look up the source (scientific papers) behind the headline and analyze it.

Info: https://www.gezondheidenwetenschap.be/gezondheid-in-de-media

Our team: https://www.gezondheidenwetenschap.be/over-het-project/team