Building Communication Capacity to Counter Infectious Disease Threats Proceedings of a Workshop (2017) / Chapter Skim
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5 Integrating Data and Evidence into Communication Strategies in the Field
5 Integrating Data and Evidence into Communication Strategies in the Field
Pages 69-80
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From page 69... ...
Fear and distrust kept Liberians from seeking care at Ebola treatment units (ETUs) and hospitals, he said, and religious and cultural practices affected smooth communication within the community.
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From page 70... ...
In addition to the epidemiologic surveillance data, an anthropological study provided some basic information regarding the reasons for community fears, distrust, denial, and quality of care that led people to delay seeking care, said Sumo. He noted that cultural and religious beliefs led to widespread opposition to cremation and contributed to Ebola-related stigmatization of patients, relatives, and close associates.
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From page 71... ...
Data informed the process of rethinking those messages, leading to improved community engagement that helped mitigate public fears, increased demand for care and other services, and prevented the spread of the virus. A BOTTOM-UP APPROACH TO A SUCCESSFUL RESPONSE Anoko began her presentation by discussing some of the practical steps she learned through her experience working with the United Nations and the World Health Organization (WHO)
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From page 72... ...
Unfortunately, said Anoko, this approach was not extended to the entire country. In Cabo Verde, health officials began employing this bottom-up approach some 10 months after the first cases of Zika and resulting microcephaly were confirmed when it became clear the population had an inappropriately low perception of risk regarding Zika.
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From page 73... ...
"What we needed was more dialogue approaches based on knowledge exchange." She and her team looked at a variety of factors that might be influencing community response to Ebola protocols and found that two obstacles were the cultural ways of caring for sick individuals and cultural funeral practices, both of which went against standard Ebola biosecurity practices designed to limit transmission. All told, 26 villages resisted Ebola control measures.
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From page 74... ...
They also lacked technical brochures with practical "how-to-do" items for communities, and little monitoring and evaluation; furthermore, the availability of funds to pay support staff, such as anthropologists, was inconsistent. The resources to fill these capacity gaps include social anthropologists who can provide knowledge about context and help build intercultural bridges and communicators whose own capabilities are improved and expanded.
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From page 75... ...
Communication during an emergency, especially in the beginning of an emerging health crisis, is always a heavy lift and often requires capacity building to quickly create, vet, and shape massive amounts of information merely to answer incoming questions from the public and media. "This is before we can work on any kind of proactive work," said Lyon Daniel.
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From page 76... ...
As an aside, she recommended CDC's crisis and emergency risk communication process1 as a good resource for managing risk communication during an emergency. It is key in today's communication environment, she added, to use convenient ad hoc sources and engage where people are exchanging information, whether it is local media, social media, or a woman selling food by the roadside.
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From page 77... ...
Lyon Daniel referred to the concept of a media village, where people shut themselves off from the outside world to protect themselves and only read material that reinforces existing views. She noted that the scientific community tends to have its own media village.
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From page 78... ...
An evaluation team recently assessed Liberia's preparedness for the next outbreak and identified a few gaps that the health ministry is now working to address. Jennifer Gardy, senior scientist at the British Columbia Centre for Disease Control and assistant professor at the School of Population and Public Health, University of British Columbia, asked Anoko for examples of innovative and creative approaches to risk communication she has seen in her work.
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From page 79... ...
This involvement, he said, is another aspect of communication and coordination that needs to be taken into account when creating a risk communication plan and the partnerships needed to carry out that plan. Lyon Daniel agreed that it is important to build transnational relationships because global travel and global commerce have expanded the potential for novel infectious disease outbreaks to occur in the United States.
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From page 80... ...
Responding to the comment about the small stuff, Lyon Daniel said that, too often, communication teams spend time responding to loud or influential voices and their concerns, which turn out to be small stuff. She recommended dedicating part of the communication team to deal with those demands so that the rest of the team can manage the urgent issues.
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