Module 7: Risk Communication
In the event of a public health crisis, effective risk communication is undertaken by specialized governmental and health bodies to prepare communities to act promptly. Educating the public on high risk situations like pandemic disease outbreaks can prompt appropriate public responses to contain these health crises. Risk must be communicated to the public with discretion to avoid triggering mass panics or causing misinformation.
Risk Communication Principles:(1)
Effective risk communication is critical and should follow several guidelines:
- Public health officials must openly acknowledge uncertainty in a risk situation, and help the target audiences understand that scientific findings are not always precise and conclusive, but indeed have their own limitations and are often compounded by uncertain data. Target audiences must understand what is known and not known about the disease.
- There must be coordination amongst healthcare professionals involved in health communication to make sure health messages conveyed through a variety of media to the public including posters, brochures, fact sheets, media kits, and the news, to the public are consistent in order to avoid confusion.
- Ethical risk communication involves transmitting information that is technically correct. Information cannot manipulate information to gain support for policies and official actions.
- Public health officials must identify and dispel rumors and false public beliefs regarding the disease.
- The timely and transparent transmission of accurate information, along with practical guidance on how a person can protect himself and others from the disease, can garner public trust and build public confidence.
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Footnotes
(1) Adapted from United States. Department of Health & Human Services. HHS Pandemic Influenza Plan Supplement 10 Public Health Communications. Web. <http://www.hhs.gov/pandemicflu/plan/sup10.html#apdx4>.