Communicating in a public health crisis

Despite previous pandemics and reports on pandemic preparedness,¹ many countries struggle to prevent and manage public health emergencies.² A key component of an effective pandemic response is communication between governments, health professionals, scientists, the media, and the public.³

A potential concern is how to maintain public trust in science and high levels of support for control measures, such as contact tracing, especially if they potentially challenge personal privacy.⁴ Despite only having a short time to accumulate, the volume of published evidence on COVID-19 is extensive, making it difficult to manage and verify. Development of systematic reviews, supported by artificial intelligence and crowdsourcing, could support the rapid analysis of evidence-based measures to help communicate the need for control measures to mitigate COVID-19.⁵

The COVID-19 pandemic has encouraged a new phase of real-time, peer-to-peer sharing. Data concerning diseases and outbreaks are communicated through multiple channels, providing a view of global health that is fundamentally different from that provided by traditional public health organisations. Use of online information is becoming a dominant method for the surveillance of emerging public health threats. For example, a widely used information source on the numbers of global COVID-19 cases and deaths is an interdisciplinary collaboration between several groups at Johns Hopkins University (The Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center).⁶ Similarly, HealthMap concatenates information from disparate data sources, including online news aggregators, eyewitness reports, expert-curated discussions, and validated official reports, to achieve a unified and comprehensive view of current infectious diseases.⁷ Global communication for future pandemics requires a novel framework. Although formal international agreements and agencies play an important part in communicating information, non-governmental groups might be able to perform a critical function in the global response to emerging diseases, and we encourage expanded use of consortia to take advantage of the strength of diverse electronic information sources and innovative means to compile and communicate information.

Poor health media literacy is common, and likewise a paucity of scientific knowledge has undermined responses to the COVID-19 pandemic. We have witnessed the amplification of unverified information, which has triggered misunderstandings, reactions of fear, and a loss of trust, which can inhibit effective responses to the pandemic. In preparation for the possible resurgence of COVID-19 or the occurrence of new infectious diseases, proactive public health investment in mechanisms for compiling, verifying, and communicating information is of paramount importance to ensuring public health. Emphasis should be placed on understanding specific factors, such as how the interplay between infectious agents and humans facilitates transmission through travelling and social activities in confined environments. During periods of uncertainty, strategies for communicating evolving information need to be developed and assessed. New curricula in systems medicine and effective communication strategies that examine the factors affecting preventive behaviour should be developed and used to train health-care professionals, researchers, teachers, media professionals, and decision makers with active involvement in communicating with the general public.