Transcript Communication during outbreaks Preben Aavitsland Your role • National, regional or local public health office • Responsible for epidemic intelligence, including outbreak response.

Communication during outbreaks
Preben Aavitsland
Your role
• National, regional or local public health
office
• Responsible for epidemic intelligence,
including outbreak response
Contents
• WHO communication guidelines
– Repeated from EpiTrain III
– Trust, Announcing early, Transparency, The
public, Planning
• Organisation
– Daily briefing
– Dedicated Internet site
– Spokesperson
On your CD-ROM
Key elements of outbreak communication
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Trust
Announcing early
Transparency
The public
Planning
Show these guidelines to the
press officer in your institute!
1. Trust
• Communicate in ways that build, maintain or
restore trust
• Trust is hard to win and easy to lose
• No trust  fear and lack of compliance
• Trust the public's ability to tolerate incomplete
and sometimes alarming information
• Accountability, involvement and transparency are
key factors to build trust
A trust triangle in your institute
Policy makers
Technical staff
(epidemiologists…)
Communicators
• Build the trianlge before it is needed
2. Announcing early
• The first announcement is critical!
• Outbreaks cannot be hidden  Announce as
early as possible
– Avoid rumours and misinformation
– Avoid loss of trust when someone else reveals the
situation (”Governement cover-up”)
• The longer you wait, the more frightening the
information will seem when it is revealed
– And the media will ask: ”What do you know, and when
did you know it?”
• You do not decide what the media will be
interested in
But be careful
• Make sure to inform your partners first
– Establish contact with them in advance
• Make reservations for incomplete
information
– State clearly: ”This is what we know at the
moment. Information may change the
investigation continues.”
3. Transparency
• Transparency = candid, easily understood,
complete and factually accurate
information
• Let the public "view" the informationgathering, risk-assessing and decisionmaking processes
• Explain the limits, for instance patient
privacy
Barriers to transparency
• Fear of economic loss
– Tourists will be afraid
– Trade may stop
• Bad planning and preparation
– Forgot to prepare a message
– Forgot to prepare answers to likely questions
• No training in delivering bad news or discussing
uncertainty
• Fear of revealing weaknesses in infrastructure
Seek culture change in outbreak preparation!
4. The public
• Understand the public’s beliefs, opinions and
knowledge
– ”Communications surveillance”
– Include representatives of the public in the planning
• Explicitly address pre-existing beliefs
• Take the publicly held view seriously
– Acknowledge and correct
– Do not ignore, patronise or ridicule
• Always tell the public what they can do to reduce
risk
• The mass media ”represent” the public
5. Planning
• Everything you do is communication!
– Sometimes actions speak louder than words
• Include risk communication in plans
• Include communicators in the team from
the start
Daily press briefing
• At the same time (almost) every day
– Announce the next briefing
• Press officer + spokesperson
• Programme
–
–
–
–
–
–
Welcome (by press officer)
Number of cases, deaths
Status of investigation
Message to the public
Questions?
Individual interviews
Give also in writing
+ other material
Internet outbreak site
• Dedicated page for the outbreak
• Updated daily immediately after press
briefing
–
–
–
–
–
Number of cases, deaths
Status of investigation
Message to the public
Facts on the disease (microbe, statistics etc)
Questions and answers
Appoint one spokesperson
• ”The face of the outbreak”
– A person the journalists and public will recognise
• An epidemiologist in the outbreak control team
– The outbreak team leader or the leader’s ”shadow”
– An epidemiologist
• Not a press officer
– Because the journalists wants someone who knows
the subject matter and is close to the investigation
The tasks of the spokesperson
• Make the message of the day together
with outbreak control team and press
officer
• Meet the mass media in (daily) briefings
• Take part in TV or radio programmes
• Be available for other contact with mass
media
– But only following filtering by press officer
The tasks of the press officers
• Discuss the message
• Assist in making texts for press releases
and your Internet site
• Filter the access to the spokesperson
• Arrange press briefings
• Monitor the media coverage
(communication surveillance)
• Ask the public