Public Health Communications: Take this

One of the lessons learned during COVID is the importance of clear communications. Effective public health communications saves lives; bad communications creates fear, uncertainty and worse. Good communications can also make better health policy and expand budgets, saving even more lives. 

But too often, senior executives in the public, private or non-profit sector expect that their good works alone are sufficient to gain the support of others, maintain funding, or advance a critical policy agenda.  Unfortunately, it isn’t so.  In an age of media oversaturation, rapid technology advances that continually atomize people’s attention, and intense competition among interest groups for decisionmakers’ hearts, minds and budgets, successful health professionals must include issue advocacy and communications in their arsenal of weapons to keep their interests relevant and compelling, to move others to action, or to affect public policy. 

This course focuses on the practical aspects of issue advocacy and public health communications. It is designed to give the public health professional an introduction to issue advocacy and public health communications, and an understanding of the critical components of developing and implementing such campaigns.