Health information in Bangladesh: sources, trust, and perceived effectiveness of digital communication technologies

This study responds to the urgent need to understand the role that digital communication technologies play in shaping health information consumption in Bangladesh, a country that is grappling with persistent health crises, where common diseases often escalate to epidemic levels, resulting in substantial loss of life. Despite these challenges, public awareness of health issues remains suboptimal, compounded by a lack of preparedness, inadequate health infrastructure, and limited disease control programs. Data were collected between December 2024 and March 2026 through online surveys (n=191) and one-to-one interviews (n=65) conducted in both Bengali and English. Our diverse demographic includes both socio-economically privileged individuals and marginalized populations, such as those residing in the Korail slum of Dhaka. The findings expose a notable gap in awareness regarding the health information aspects of digital technologies, despite their widespread accessibility. Google and YouTube emerged as the most commonly used digital health information sources, followed by Facebook. ChatGPT appeared as an emerging supplementary source, while Arogga, DocTime, and Wikipedia were reported less frequently. Arogga is an online pharmacy and healthcare platform in Bangladesh, while DocTime provides online doctor consultation services. Although less frequently reported, these platforms were included to capture diverse digital health-information pathways beyond general search and social media platforms. Trust in these sources hinges on authenticity, information accuracy, medical reliability, popularity, verifiability, selective visual trust dynamics, and convenience.