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. Trust

2. Announcing early

3. Transparency

4. The public

5. 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

• Build the trianlge before it is needed

Policy makers

Technical staff (epidemiologists…)

Communicators

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 information-gathering, risk-assessing and decision-making 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