Inoculation theory and tropical medicine: A partnership worth exploring?

Inoculation theory offers a communication strategy for building resistance to misinformation, misconceptions, and myths through preexposure to weakened challenges. Health communication has been one of its most productive areas of application, yet inoculation remains understudied in tropical medicine. Tropical Doctor has addressed health myths, misunderstandings, and misconceptions for decades, suggesting an opportunity to explore whether inoculation theory-based messaging might contribute to existing health communication efforts in LMIC settings. Doing that work well will require partnerships with health workers and other experts who know those settings. Inoculation theory is no panacea, but its record as a health communication strategy makes its potential contribution to tropical medicine worth exploring.