Cargando…
Communicating risk during early phases of COVID-19: Comparing governing structures for emergency risk communication across four contexts
BACKGROUND: Emergency risk communication (ERC) is key to achieving compliance with public health measures during pandemics. Yet, the factors that facilitated ERC during COVID-19 have not been analyzed. We compare ERC in the early stages of the pandemic across four socio-economic settings to identify...
Autores principales: | , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
---|---|
Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
Frontiers Media S.A.
2023
|
Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9911432/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36778563 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2023.1038989 |
_version_ | 1784884987817885696 |
---|---|
author | Geurts, Brogan Weishaar, Heide Mari Saez, Almudena Cristea, Florin Rocha, Carlos Aminu, Kafayat Tan, Melisa Mei Jin Salim Camara, Bienvenu Barry, Lansana Thea, Paul Boucsein, Johannes Bahr, Thurid Al-Awlaqi, Sameh Pozo-Martin, Francisco Boklage, Evgeniya Delamou, Alexandre Jegede, Ayodele Samuel Legido-Quigley, Helena El Bcheraoui, Charbel |
author_facet | Geurts, Brogan Weishaar, Heide Mari Saez, Almudena Cristea, Florin Rocha, Carlos Aminu, Kafayat Tan, Melisa Mei Jin Salim Camara, Bienvenu Barry, Lansana Thea, Paul Boucsein, Johannes Bahr, Thurid Al-Awlaqi, Sameh Pozo-Martin, Francisco Boklage, Evgeniya Delamou, Alexandre Jegede, Ayodele Samuel Legido-Quigley, Helena El Bcheraoui, Charbel |
author_sort | Geurts, Brogan |
collection | PubMed |
description | BACKGROUND: Emergency risk communication (ERC) is key to achieving compliance with public health measures during pandemics. Yet, the factors that facilitated ERC during COVID-19 have not been analyzed. We compare ERC in the early stages of the pandemic across four socio-economic settings to identify how risk communication can be improved in public health emergencies (PHE). METHODS: To map and assess the content, process, actors, and context of ERC in Germany, Guinea, Nigeria, and Singapore, we performed a qualitative document review, and thematically analyzed semi-structured key informant interviews with 155 stakeholders involved in ERC at national and sub-national levels. We applied Walt and Gilson's health policy triangle as a framework to structure the results. RESULTS: We identified distinct ERC strategies in each of the four countries. Various actors, including governmental leads, experts, and organizations with close contact to the public, collaborated closely to implement ERC strategies. Early integration of ERC into preparedness and response plans, lessons from previous experiences, existing structures and networks, and clear leadership were identified as crucial for ensuring message clarity, consistency, relevance, and an efficient use of resources. Areas of improvement primarily included two-way communication, community engagement, and monitoring and evaluation. Countries with recurrent experiences of pandemics appeared to be more prepared and equipped to implement ERC strategies. CONCLUSION: We found that considerable potential exists for countries to improve communication during public health emergencies, particularly in the areas of bilateral communication and community engagement as well as monitoring and evaluation. Building adaptive structures and maintaining long-term relationships with at-risk communities reportedly facilitated suitable communication. The findings suggest considerable potential and transferable learning opportunities exist between countries in the global north and countries in the global south with experience of managing outbreaks. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-9911432 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2023 |
publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-99114322023-02-11 Communicating risk during early phases of COVID-19: Comparing governing structures for emergency risk communication across four contexts Geurts, Brogan Weishaar, Heide Mari Saez, Almudena Cristea, Florin Rocha, Carlos Aminu, Kafayat Tan, Melisa Mei Jin Salim Camara, Bienvenu Barry, Lansana Thea, Paul Boucsein, Johannes Bahr, Thurid Al-Awlaqi, Sameh Pozo-Martin, Francisco Boklage, Evgeniya Delamou, Alexandre Jegede, Ayodele Samuel Legido-Quigley, Helena El Bcheraoui, Charbel Front Public Health Public Health BACKGROUND: Emergency risk communication (ERC) is key to achieving compliance with public health measures during pandemics. Yet, the factors that facilitated ERC during COVID-19 have not been analyzed. We compare ERC in the early stages of the pandemic across four socio-economic settings to identify how risk communication can be improved in public health emergencies (PHE). METHODS: To map and assess the content, process, actors, and context of ERC in Germany, Guinea, Nigeria, and Singapore, we performed a qualitative document review, and thematically analyzed semi-structured key informant interviews with 155 stakeholders involved in ERC at national and sub-national levels. We applied Walt and Gilson's health policy triangle as a framework to structure the results. RESULTS: We identified distinct ERC strategies in each of the four countries. Various actors, including governmental leads, experts, and organizations with close contact to the public, collaborated closely to implement ERC strategies. Early integration of ERC into preparedness and response plans, lessons from previous experiences, existing structures and networks, and clear leadership were identified as crucial for ensuring message clarity, consistency, relevance, and an efficient use of resources. Areas of improvement primarily included two-way communication, community engagement, and monitoring and evaluation. Countries with recurrent experiences of pandemics appeared to be more prepared and equipped to implement ERC strategies. CONCLUSION: We found that considerable potential exists for countries to improve communication during public health emergencies, particularly in the areas of bilateral communication and community engagement as well as monitoring and evaluation. Building adaptive structures and maintaining long-term relationships with at-risk communities reportedly facilitated suitable communication. The findings suggest considerable potential and transferable learning opportunities exist between countries in the global north and countries in the global south with experience of managing outbreaks. Frontiers Media S.A. 2023-01-27 /pmc/articles/PMC9911432/ /pubmed/36778563 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2023.1038989 Text en Copyright © 2023 Geurts, Weishaar, Mari Saez, Cristea, Rocha, Aminu, Tan, Salim Camara, Barry, Thea, Boucsein, Bahr, Al-Awlaqi, Pozo-Martin, Boklage, Delamou, Jegede, Legido-Quigley and El Bcheraoui. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms. |
spellingShingle | Public Health Geurts, Brogan Weishaar, Heide Mari Saez, Almudena Cristea, Florin Rocha, Carlos Aminu, Kafayat Tan, Melisa Mei Jin Salim Camara, Bienvenu Barry, Lansana Thea, Paul Boucsein, Johannes Bahr, Thurid Al-Awlaqi, Sameh Pozo-Martin, Francisco Boklage, Evgeniya Delamou, Alexandre Jegede, Ayodele Samuel Legido-Quigley, Helena El Bcheraoui, Charbel Communicating risk during early phases of COVID-19: Comparing governing structures for emergency risk communication across four contexts |
title | Communicating risk during early phases of COVID-19: Comparing governing structures for emergency risk communication across four contexts |
title_full | Communicating risk during early phases of COVID-19: Comparing governing structures for emergency risk communication across four contexts |
title_fullStr | Communicating risk during early phases of COVID-19: Comparing governing structures for emergency risk communication across four contexts |
title_full_unstemmed | Communicating risk during early phases of COVID-19: Comparing governing structures for emergency risk communication across four contexts |
title_short | Communicating risk during early phases of COVID-19: Comparing governing structures for emergency risk communication across four contexts |
title_sort | communicating risk during early phases of covid-19: comparing governing structures for emergency risk communication across four contexts |
topic | Public Health |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9911432/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36778563 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2023.1038989 |
work_keys_str_mv | AT geurtsbrogan communicatingriskduringearlyphasesofcovid19comparinggoverningstructuresforemergencyriskcommunicationacrossfourcontexts AT weishaarheide communicatingriskduringearlyphasesofcovid19comparinggoverningstructuresforemergencyriskcommunicationacrossfourcontexts AT marisaezalmudena communicatingriskduringearlyphasesofcovid19comparinggoverningstructuresforemergencyriskcommunicationacrossfourcontexts AT cristeaflorin communicatingriskduringearlyphasesofcovid19comparinggoverningstructuresforemergencyriskcommunicationacrossfourcontexts AT rochacarlos communicatingriskduringearlyphasesofcovid19comparinggoverningstructuresforemergencyriskcommunicationacrossfourcontexts AT aminukafayat communicatingriskduringearlyphasesofcovid19comparinggoverningstructuresforemergencyriskcommunicationacrossfourcontexts AT tanmelisameijin communicatingriskduringearlyphasesofcovid19comparinggoverningstructuresforemergencyriskcommunicationacrossfourcontexts AT salimcamarabienvenu communicatingriskduringearlyphasesofcovid19comparinggoverningstructuresforemergencyriskcommunicationacrossfourcontexts AT barrylansana communicatingriskduringearlyphasesofcovid19comparinggoverningstructuresforemergencyriskcommunicationacrossfourcontexts AT theapaul communicatingriskduringearlyphasesofcovid19comparinggoverningstructuresforemergencyriskcommunicationacrossfourcontexts AT boucseinjohannes communicatingriskduringearlyphasesofcovid19comparinggoverningstructuresforemergencyriskcommunicationacrossfourcontexts AT bahrthurid communicatingriskduringearlyphasesofcovid19comparinggoverningstructuresforemergencyriskcommunicationacrossfourcontexts AT alawlaqisameh communicatingriskduringearlyphasesofcovid19comparinggoverningstructuresforemergencyriskcommunicationacrossfourcontexts AT pozomartinfrancisco communicatingriskduringearlyphasesofcovid19comparinggoverningstructuresforemergencyriskcommunicationacrossfourcontexts AT boklageevgeniya communicatingriskduringearlyphasesofcovid19comparinggoverningstructuresforemergencyriskcommunicationacrossfourcontexts AT delamoualexandre communicatingriskduringearlyphasesofcovid19comparinggoverningstructuresforemergencyriskcommunicationacrossfourcontexts AT jegedeayodelesamuel communicatingriskduringearlyphasesofcovid19comparinggoverningstructuresforemergencyriskcommunicationacrossfourcontexts AT legidoquigleyhelena communicatingriskduringearlyphasesofcovid19comparinggoverningstructuresforemergencyriskcommunicationacrossfourcontexts AT elbcheraouicharbel communicatingriskduringearlyphasesofcovid19comparinggoverningstructuresforemergencyriskcommunicationacrossfourcontexts |