Debunk with Empathy: How to Talk About Health When Emotions, Uncertainty, and Misinformation Are Involved

Vaccines. Abortion. Mental Health. Conversations about health topics like these often stir deep emotions, challenge beliefs, and-most concerning of all-test relationships.

Whether you're a parent trying to protect your family, a caregiver facing tough decisions, a grieving friend searching for the right words, or a healthcare professional dealing with life-or-death matters, you've felt the strain of difficult health conversations.

In Debunk with Empathy, Wan Naszeerah-a Nusantara infodemiologist and public health advocate-offers a fresh approach to these challenges. Drawing from her lived experiences as a stateless-born Malay woman raised amidst the Nusantara's plurality of traditional and modern healing practices, and her education at Yale and UC Berkeley, Wan invites readers to embrace empathy-not as a buzzword, but as a skill rooted in the hati, the heart-mind connection central to Nusantara wisdom.

Through practical tools, psychology-backed strategies, and heartfelt stories from Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore, Debunk with Empathy will show you how to:

• Uncover hidden barriers that make discussing health topics so challenging-and discover how empathy can overcome these roadblocks.
• Build trust in emotionally charged discussions by calming tensions, addressing power dynamics, and responding to deeply held beliefs.
• Transform conflict into connection with adaptable strategies that shift perspectives, manage uncertainty, and address emotional complexity.

This is not just a book about communication-it's a guide to creating meaningful, healing conversations. Debunk with Empathy will help you build healthier relationships, deepen understanding, and confidently approach life's most vital dialogues.