Risk Communication in Public Health Emergencies. Practical Guidance Rooted in Theory

• Offers an inner look at how health and medical practitioners plan for, and implement, emergency risk communication
• Provides an opportunity to consider the text and reflect on how it applies to practice, using though-provoking inquiry questions for the reader
• Written by an expert who has worked in local, state and federal public health who is able to convey information in a readable and relatable way
• Provides theoretical knowledge and experiential knowledge that public health practitioners can apply to issues they may face. ‘Lessons learned’ provide real-world insights grounded in theory
• Highly applicable for Masters of Public Health students

CONTENTS

1. Why you need to care about emergency risk communication
2. Pre-crisis planning is necessary for public information and emergency communications: leveraging what you’ve got
3. Identifying who needs to know what and when: it’s not a surprise what your audiences need to know
4. Addressing the information needs of public and medical community during a public health emergency
5. How to get the message out: understanding all of your communication channels and when to use them
6. Initial messages during a health emergency: addressing uncertainty and creating trust with the public
7. Maintenance messages during a health emergency: how to protect the public’s health and debunking misinformation
8. Communicating during long public health emergencies: creating health communication campaigns
9. Pivoting from crisis management to recovery: communicating the end of a health emergency
10. Evaluating emergency risk communication and engaging in public education for the next emergency
11. Effective communication during a health emergency: the role of spokesperson and working with the media
12. Crisis leadership: staying steady on unsteady ground. Index.