Health Communication

Health Communication
Health communication, as defined by the Centers for Disease Control and

Prevention (CDC) and the National Cancer Institute, is:
The study and use of communication strategies to inform and influence
individual decisions that enhance health.
Health communication includes verbal and written strategies to influence and
empower individuals, populations, and communities to make healthier
choices. Health communication often integrates components of multiple
theories and models to promote positive changes in attitudes and behaviors.
Health communication is related to social marketing, which involves the
development of activities and interventions designed to positively change
behaviors.
Effective health communication and social marketing strategies include the
following components:
 Use of research-based strategies to shape materials and products and

to select the channels that deliver them to the intended audience.
 Understanding of conventional wisdom, concepts, language, and
priorities for different cultures and settings.
 Consideration of health literacy, internet access, media exposure, and
cultural competency of target populations.
 Development of materials such as brochures, billboards, newspaper
articles, television broadcasts, radio commercials, public service
announcements, newsletters, pamphlets, videos, digital tools, case
studies, group discussions, health fairs, field trips, and workbooks
among others media outlets.
Using a variety of communication channels can allow health messages to
shape mass media or interpersonal, small group, or community level
campaigns. Health communication strategies aim to change people's
knowledge, attitudes, and/or behaviors; for example:
 Increase risk perception

 Reinforce positive behaviors
 Influence social norms
 Increase availability of support and needed services
 Empower individuals to change or improve their health conditions
Examples of media strategies to convey health messages include the
following components:
 Radio
 Television
 Newspaper
 Flyers
 Brochures
 Internet
 Social media tools (i.e., Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube)
Examples of Health Communication Interventions

 Tobacco prevention and cessation programs often use health
communication to reach a broader audience. Examples of mass-reach
health communication interventions are available in the Rural Tobacco
Control and Prevention Toolkit.
 Examples of communication and social marketing interventions related
to HIV prevention and treatment are available in the Rural HIV/AIDS
Prevention and Treatment Toolkit.
 The Northeast Louisiana Regional Pre-Diabetes Prevention Project
(RPDP) promoted prediabetes screening and diabetes prevention
information to communities using multiple media outlets.
Considerations for Implementation

When designing health communication or social marketing strategies, it is
important to consider the overall communication goals of the intervention. It
is also necessary to understand the target population so that the content
created is relevant to the target population. It is important to tailor
messages to the communication channel being used. Further, using multiple
communication and media strategies will ensure a broader reach. It is also
important to ensure that the target population has access to the
communication channels being used.
ECDC activities on health
communication
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Article 12 of the ECDC Founding Regulation gives details on the Centre’s role in
communications:
 The Centre shall communicate on its own initiative in the fields within its mission,
after having given prior information to the Member States and to the
Commission. It shall ensure that the public and any interested parties are rapidly
given objective, reliable and easily accessible information with regard to the
results of its work. In order to achieve these objectives, the Centre shall make
available information for the general public, including through a dedicated
website (...).
 The Centre shall act in close collaboration with the Member States and the
Commission to promote the necessary coherence in the risk communication
process on health threats.
 The Centre shall cooperate as appropriate with the competent bodies in the
Member States and other interested parties with regard to public information
campaigns.
ECDC activities in health

communication
Health communication is integral to effective public health response to the continuing
threat posed by communicable diseases in the EU and EEA countries. Furthermore, the
surfacing of new infectious organisms, microbial resistance to therapeutic drugs, new
environment-related phenomena and new emerging diseases have expanded the role
of health communication as a core competency of public health practice.
Public health practitioners, programme managers and policy makers need to be aware
of the strengths, weaknesses and costs of health communication interventions aimed at
the prevention and control of communicable diseases so that impacts can be enhanced
and opportunities maximised for strengthening evidence-based action.
Why focus on health

communication programs
ECDC surveillance of infectious diseases clearly shows that traditional epidemiological
and microbiological interventions are not enough to address key threats in
contemporary infectious disease control in Europe, such as poor vaccine uptake,
emergence and spread of antibiotic resistant microbes in health care settings and in the
community, and transmission of HIV and STI within certain high-risk groups (ECDC,
2011). The traditional interventions therefore need to be complemented with other
preventive actions.
Research shows that properly designed communication activities can have a positive
impact on health-related attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors, and thus can influence
individual and community decisions to reduce risks to health. The use of specific health
communication strategies and techniques can tailor messages to maximise public
attention, raise awareness of health risks, contribute to improved health literacy,
promote solutions and increase the likelihood of adoption of health behaviors and
practices.
ECDC activities in the area of health communication stem from the mandate given to
ECDC in Article 12 of its Founding Regulations. They have three directions:
 Efficiently communicate the scientific and technical output of ECDC to

professional audiences The main scientific output from ECDC is disseminated
through technical and scientific reports, which are authored by internal and
external experts.
 Communicate key public health messages and information to the media
and the European publicHealth problems and concerns differ from country to
country. ECDC therefore works closely with national authorities to ensure its
public health messages have maximum impact.
 Support the development of Member States’ health communication
capacities ECDC supports Member States’ communications activities by
delivering training in health communication skills, providing adaptable tools and
guidance, and facilitating the share of best practices on health communication.
Health communication objectives

 To make evidence-based information on health communication easily accessible
within the EU and EEA countries;
 To support countries in sharing knowledge and experiences between public
health professionals undertaking health communication activities;
 To promote health communication skills among public health professionals, who
tackle infectious diseases in the EU and EEA countries;
 To support Member States’ efforts to integrate behaviour change and risk
communication strategies in their communicable disease prevention programmes
and public health campaigns;To provide guidelines and practical tools to support
health communication in a consistent way, e.g. developing guidance on health
communication strategies and plans.
Target audiences
ECDC aims to support Member States in effective communication for the prevention
and control of communicable diseases. For this purpose, ECDC provides outputs to
meet the needs of professionals and organisations working in the field of public health,
including government authorities, researchers, political think tanks and institutes, health
care professionals, students and non-governmental organisations (NGOs).

Health Communication

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Health Communication

Health communication, as defined by the Centers for Disease Control and

 Use of research-based strategies to shape materials and products and

 Increase risk perception

Examples of Health Communication Interventions

Considerations for Implementation

ECDC activities in health

Why focus on health

 Efficiently communicate the scientific and technical output of ECDC to

Health communication objectives

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