Op-ed: Public health officials need to build back trust
In a time when people are losing trust in public health—such as denying the effectiveness of vaccines—officials should improve communication in order to repair what’s broken, according to Andy Burness, instructor in the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
In a Sept. 5 Public Health Newswire op-ed, Burness recommended strategies for officials, workers, and researchers to proactively reach out to communities and share the importance of public health: communicating directly using concrete, descriptive language instead of jargon; sharing stories of individuals who are impacted by public health issues, including patients; using inclusive language; finding common ground; working with advocates across the political spectrum; and taking social media seriously as a channel for information.
“At stake is nothing less than the decisions Americans make about their health and the health of their communities,” Burness wrote. “We can do more than lament the loss of trust. We can do something about it. And that starts with re-thinking how we communicate about public health.”
Read the Public Health Newswire op-ed: Op-ed: How to repair broken trust in public health
