Public health communication is based on the public and must be tailored for the public to aid in information understanding and uptake. There needs to be a restructuring of the public health information system to appropriately plan, analyze, and disseminate information and policies, ensuring that data is not only gathered efficiently but is accurate. Provided this is a multifaceted process, yet information is first and foremost tailored to its intended audience. It must be detailed to impact culturally diverse communities in which lifestyles and languages hinder understanding of standardized scientific information through audience segmentation.
Beyond the scope of the information systems, there must, in the future, be a common consensus of goals and intentions by health authorities, government officials, and health bodies, aided by further surveillance and evaluation of information and policies once distributed to the population.
The communication passageway must be clear, consistent, and repetitive with a rationale to support health actions to mitigate widespread uncertainty, with increased attention paid to vulnerable communities, enhancing community engagement in initiated policies and health actions. In targeting vulnerable communities, one must also look to disseminate information to various media sources, choosing channels for the most suitable delivery. Information sharing is direct, easily understandable to the public, and digestible, with clear transmission pathways and rationale for actions detailed. This information must have a common scientific basis and signify a desired benefit/threat. Nevertheless, there must be a bottom-up approach to policies in which there is no sole basis on science but an additional account of the feasibility of actions.
Furthermore, in tackling the language barrier, further effort must be maintained in providing translated health information promptly in combination with appropriate pathways for these communities to obtain it, preventing targeted communities from falling behind in information uptake. This calls for the outsourcing of the government to agencies or NGOs that have the ability to do so or hiring qualified individuals to take on this task.
1922-11