For a while, COVID-19 turned every journalist into a health journalist. Similarly, it has inspired scientists into scientific communication. Today, we face new challenges, from H5N1 avian influenza to measles outbreaks, but the need for good communication and public engagement remains paramount. This means that scientists, especially those in the public health field, need to develop communication and advocacy skills.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, I taught an epidemiology course to journalists around the world (see previous post for key points). This year, I had the opportunity to teach media, communications, advocacy, and diplomacy to public health students. The experience was eye-opening.
Why is communication important for public health?
We live in a time of unprecedented misinformation, disinformation, and outright anti-science attacks. Fake news travels faster than real news. The public gets more information from Whatsapp, TikTok, and social media than from trusted health organizations and scientists. In fact, the WHO lists the anti-vaccination movement as one of the top 10 threats to global health. The fact that we will see measles and pertussis outbreaks in 2024 is sad evidence of this threat.
Bad science, populist politics, and poor communication are undermining public trust in science. We have also learned through painful experience that even the best science can be subverted by politics and vested interests. There is no guarantee that good science will automatically influence policy decisions, nor is there any guarantee that good policies will actually be implemented. A tragic example of this knowledge-doing gap is that the United States, despite its national wealth, vaccine stockpile, and scientific expertise, has lost well over 1 million people to COVID-19. be.
Communication training for public health students
Public health workers need to learn how to engage directly with the public, engage with the media, write op-eds, give interviews, speak at public meetings, and write policy briefs for policymakers. They also need to learn how to simplify public health messages, organize public health campaigns, and use social media. Skills such as advocacy and diplomacy can be learned and go a long way in influencing policy makers as well as the public.
In my course, students will learn how to write media releases, write and publish editorials, create policy briefs for policy makers and politicians, practice mock television interviews, create public health posters, and create public health posters for the public and policy makers. I learned how to give a short speech.
Plus, podcasts, narrative storytelling, effective use of social media, planning and executing advocacy campaigns, strategies for dealing with misinformation, how to communicate uncertainty, and the importance of diplomacy in the world and public health. I also learned about sex.
Students’ grades were based entirely on practical work, rather than theory or exams. Everyone was required to submit a media release, editorial, policy brief, public health poster, and give a short speech in class.
lessons and learnings
Based on what I’ve learned, I’ll offer some tips for public health programs and teachers like me.
Invite journalists first Media professionals can teach public health courses. They bring immense value with their lived experience in journalism. I was very fortunate to have an amazing group of journalists and media professionals (see Acknowledgments) who taught me in my courses. Without them, this course would not have worked. Ideally, a good public health communication course will have his two co-directors: a journalist and a public health expert. Collaboration between public health schools and journalism schools can yield surprising results.
Second, emphasize practicenot a theory. Theories about knowledge translation abound, but today’s public health students need more than theory. They need to actually do things. We really need to involve the public. The students showed us that if they are given the right skills, they can put them to good use.
My course required students to write and pitch editorials, so I ended up writing and pitching articles during the semester about the need for COVID-19 boosters, subway safety, combating Islamophobia, and public health. He has successfully published nearly 10 editorials on a variety of topics, including eating disorders. A boy and a man, Florida’s plan to import medicines from Canada, food insecurity in Canada, the lingering coronavirus pandemic, the climate crisis, and water fluoridation.
Several students presented their work after having several proposals rejected. It taught them the importance of patience. Students also learned how to handle editorial feedback and revisions. Some students were invited for media (television) interviews because they published topical editorials. Some students even wrote editorials after the course, taking what they learned beyond the course.
Third, teach students advocacy, it’s not just about communication. Because advocacy helps translate research into action. To make an impact, invite experts who work on real-life advocacy campaigns to speak to your students. Again, I was fortunate to have a professional advocate teach my students. Students learned about well-known advocacy campaigns such as AIDS activism, as well as contemporary examples (e.g., the Covid-19 vaccine equity advocacy). They also learned about the dangers of championing a single issue.
Fourth, teach students about diplomacy and its important role in improving public health. Global health diplomacy is “a multi-actor process that can shape the context of global policies that affect health and position health in foreign policy negotiations.” The stalled pandemic agreement negotiations are a good example of why negotiation skills are important.
Finally, teach students how to deal with misinformation And disinformation. The rise of anti-science, as eloquently summarized by Peter Hotez in The Fatal Rise of Anti-Science, is a frightening phenomenon. With science under attack, scientists have little choice but to fight disinformation by engaging directly with the public. Publishing in scientific journals is important, but not sufficient. In addition to skills such as proactively spotting and debunking mistakes, public health professionals must also learn to build and maintain trust.
In conclusion, the translation of knowledge today is much trickier and more complex than what we typically teach in public health schools. We need to prepare our public health students for the real world they graduate from: a world of populist politics, polarization, anti-science, and a weary public that has lost faith in science. there is. Simply put, there are too many knowledge and practice gaps in global health and public health. Good communication, advocacy, and diplomacy can help close some of the knowledge gaps and give public health students the skills to become change agents. “I was struggling to find a way to move beyond research and make a difference as a public health worker, and this course gave me direction,” says one student. Personally, I wish I had learned about communication and advocacy when I first received my public health training many years ago. I am now learning by teaching.
Acknowledgment: I am very grateful to all the talented professionals who have educated me and my students. Gabby Stern, julia robinsonJason Clement Roxanne KamsiKate Hankins andrew bresnahan, Chris Labosrobert steiner Elise LegartErica Lessem Gary Aslanian, Annalisa Merelli, Stephanie Nolen, Diya Banerjee, Marin McKenna, amy maxmenand peter singer.