Why Filipino politicians love ivermectin

WHENEVER there’s a health crisis, politicians have a tendency to tout simplistic solutions and make knowledge claims to support these solutions, even against the advice of those who know better. In my own scholarly work, I have identified this “simplification of health crisis” as one of the components of medical populism, alongside “dramatisation of responses” and “forging of divisions” between the people and “others” portrayed to be dangerous, infectious, or both.

Aside from downplaying or denying outright the existence of crisis, one common form of this simplification is offering a panacea that can prevent and treat the illness of concern. This is something we’ve seen a lot of during the Covid-19 pandemic, from France’s Emmanuel Macron endorsing hydroxychloroquine to Madagascar’s Andry Rajoelina touting a herbal concoction called Covid-Organics.