"During public health emergencies, people need to know what health risks they face, and what actions they can take to protect their health and lives. Accurate information provided early, often, and in languages and channels that people understand, trust and use, enables individuals to make choices and take actions to protect themselves, their families and communities from threatening health hazards." -- Publisher's description.

When communities face complex public health emergencies, state local, tribal, and territorial public health agencies must make difficult decisions regarding how to effectively respond. The public health emergency preparedness and response (PHEPR) system, with its multifaceted mission to prevent, protect against, quickly respond to, and recover from public health emergencies, is inherently complex and encompasses policies, organizations, and programs. Since the events of September 11, 2001, the United States has invested billions of dollars and immeasurable amounts of human capital to develop and enhance public health emergency preparedness and infrastructure to respond to a wide range of public health threats, including infectious diseases, natural disasters, and chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear events. Despite the investments in research and the growing body of empirical literature on a range of preparedness and response capabilities and functions, there has been no national-level, comprehensive review and grading of evidence for public health emergency preparedness and response practices comparable to those utilized in medicine and other public health fields. Evidence-Based Practice for Public Health Emergency Preparedness and Response reviews the state of the evidence on PHEPR practices and the improvements necessary to move the field forward and to strengthen the PHEPR system. This publication evaluates PHEPR evidence to understand the balance of benefits and harms of PHEPR practices, with a focus on four main areas of PHEPR: engagement with and training of community-based partners to improve the outcomes of at-risk populations after public health emergencies; activation of a public health emergency operations center; communication of public health alerts and guidance to technical audiences during a public health emergency; and implementation of quarantine to reduce the spread of contagious illness.

A resource for public officials on the basic tenets of effective communications generally and on working with the news media specifically. Focuses on providing public officials with a brief orientation and perspective on the media and how they think and work, and on the public as the end-recipient of info.; concise presentations of techniques for responding to and cooperating with the media in conveying info. and delivering messages, before, during, and after a public health crisis; a practical guide to the tools of the trade of media relations and public communications; and strategies and tactics for addressing the probable opportunities and the possible challenges that are likely to arise as a consequence of such communication initiatives. Ill.

Building communication capacity is a critical piece of preparing for, detecting, and responding to infectious disease threats. The International Health Regulations (IHR) establish risk communicationâ€"the real-time exchange of information, advice, and opinions between experts or officials and people who face a threat to their survival, health, and economic or social well-beingâ€"as a core capacity that World Health Organization member states must fulfill to strengthen the fight against these threats. Despite global recognition of the importance of complying with IHR, 67 percent of signatory countries report themselves as not compliant. By investing in communication capacity, public health and government officials and civil society organizations facing health crises would be prepared to provide advice, information, and reassurance to the public as well as to rapidly develop messages and community engagement activities that are coordinated and take into account social and behavioral dynamics among all sectors. To learn about current national and international efforts to develop the capacity to communicate effectively during times of infectious disease outbreaks, and to explore gaps in the research agenda that may help address communication needs to advance the field, the Forum on Microbial Threats of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine convened a 1.5 day workshop on December 13 and 14, 2016, in Washington, DC. Participants reviewed progress and needs in strengthening communication capacity for dealing with infectious disease threats for both outbreaks and routine challenges in the United States and abroad. This publication summarizes the presentations and discussions from the workshop.

"Bringing together a wide variety of perspectives on risk communication, this up-to-date review of a high profile and topical area includes practical examples and lessons."--[Source inconnue].

Originally designed for communicating public health information associated with communicable diseases, this book covers essential topics concerning media relations for public and private sector public information officers. Topics include: Introduction to Crisis and Emergency Risk Communication-Types of crisis and communications during a crisis, the risk of disaster, emergency/crisis/risk communications, the crisis communications lifecycle-pre-crisis phase, initial phase, crisis maintenance, resolution, and evaluation. Psychology of a Crisis-Human behavior in an emergency, decision making, perception of risk, facts to consider about human psychology in a crisis, and how to communicate effectively in a crisis. The Crisis Communication Plan-Developing an emergency/crisis communication plan, Information verification and clearance/approval procedures, agreements on information release authorities (who releases what/when/how, procedures to secure needed resources (space, equipment, people) to operate the public information. The nine steps of crisis response. Surviving the first 48 hours of an emergency: Be first, be right, be credible. The Role of the Spokesperson- The role of the spokesperson in an emergency, what makes a good spokesperson, general recommendations for spokespersons in all settings, pitfalls for spokespersons during an emergency, when emotions and accusations run high in an emergency public meeting, what spokespersons should know when talking through the media, general media interview pitfalls, media opportunity or press conference tips, counters to electronic media interview techniques, radio interview tips, television interview tips, what to wear on television, assessing your communication skills and habits, facial expressions, voice cues, body positions and movements, and effective nonverbal communication. Working With the Media- Think local media first, what do reporters want, getting emergency information to the media, the press conference or media opportunity, telephone news conferences/Web casts, commercial press release services, E-mail listservs and broadcast faxes, Web sites/video streaming, and responding to media calls. Writing For the Media During a Crisis- What your media release should include, press statements are not press releases, media factsheets/backgrounders, visuals, video press releases, and B-roll. Press Conferences- Where to hold the press conference, whom to invite, how and when to invite the media, how to conduct the media opportunity, using visuals and handouts.

This guidance is an update of WHO global influenza preparedness plan: the role of WHO and recommendations for national measures before and during pandemics, published March 2005 (WHO/CDS/CSR/GIP/2005.5).