Getting Ready for The Next Pandemic: Communication of Data in Crisis Mode

The COVID-19 pandemic has underlined the need for an efficient collaboration between scientists, policy makers and the general public to tackle the crisis. Infectious disease experts play a key role in setting the foundations for an acute and accurate communication of the risks of emerging pandemics, however, they often lack the resources and tools to translate their findings into messages that resonate with decision-makers and/or the public. This presentation will introduce the audience to the principles of effective communication of the risk posed by emerging communicable diseases, bridging the fields of infectology, behavior science and communication.

Learning Objectives:

1. List 3 attributes of a risk that make audiences more likely to perceive the risk of an infection to be higher than the actual risk.

2. Name 1 behavioral science framework that helps explain how people behave in the face of health risks.

3. Name 3 characteristics of the target audience that could modify the way the risk communication should be delivered.