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TELL ME Final Conference: a bridge between theory and practice in communication about infectious crises
TELL ME Final Conference will be held in Venice on December 4-5th. Many experts in different fields will meet to discuss about recent advances in the approach to risk communication, notably in major infectious disease outbreaks. TELL ME partners will present new communication tools and strategies to better involve the public and healthcare providers in the communication process, to ensure that messages reach their target during all phases of the epidemic or pandemic.
TELL ME has proposed a new participative model for risk communication, which would help public health authorities to secure optimal preparedness for infectious disease threats. This will be done by increasing the resilience of all communities during epidemics and pandemics. As part of the products of the TELL ME project, we created a series of guidance documents for professionals in the field of public health and a practical guide for outbreak communication, developed an agent-based simulation model for public health officials and decision makers, and prepared an e-learning course for primary healthcare workers.
TELL ME Final Conference: a bridge between academia, public health and other stakeholders in infectious crises
At TELL ME Final Conference in Venice, researchers will meet journalists, public health officers from different countries and other professionals involved in the management of infectious disease outbreaks, in order to debate about the role of communication in such circumstances.
The conference will be opened on December 4th by Manfred Green (Head of Public health at University of Haifa and Scientific Coordinator of the TELL ME project) and Francesca Russo, Head of Unit for Promotion and Development of Hygiene and Public Health of the Veneto Region, who will give their welcome speeches.
Karl Ekdahl, Head of the Public Health Capacity and Communication Unit of the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), will introduce the discussion with a talk about risk communication aspects of the more recent Ebola outbreak.
On the following day Francesco Zambon, from the World Health Organization / Regional Office for Europe, will chair the session about Theoretical concepts and critical aspects in public health crises, in which Bernardino Fantini, from Geneva Medical School, will talk about Figures of fear and empathy: Perception of epidemics and representation of the behavioural responses to them in literature, art and music; Kåre Harald Drager, from The International Emergency Management Society (TIEMS), will explain The role of risk communication and education and training in building resilient communities. Some TELL ME partners will present the main results of their work: Simon Langdon (CEDARthree) about risk and trust in public health emergency and Paul Quinn (Vrije Universiteit Brussel) about Stigmatisation and discrimination: The inevitable social companions of public health crises.
TELL ME Final Conference: a bridge among different EU funded projects on outbreak communication and the healthcare context
EU funded project are called to cooperate. At TELL ME Final Conference in Venice, Jeff French (Strategic Social Marketing) will provide an update on the ECOM Project and the role of social marketing in outbreak communication, and Anna Kolliakou (King’s College, London) will talk about the use of social media in mental health, according to PHEME project. A strong bridge is then built between TELL ME project and ASSET (Action plan in Science in Society in Epidemics and Total pandemics), a 48-month Mobilisation and Mutual Learning Action Plan (MMLAP) project on the same issues: Valentina Possenti (Italian Health Institute, ISS) will be presenting the project.
TELL ME Final Conference: a bridge between flu pandemic preparedness and other infectious outbreaks, such as Ebola
Knowledge and tools developed in view of a flu pandemic need to be revised and adapted to different emergencies, such as recent Ebola epidemic. One session in the Conference, chaired by James J. James (National Disaster Life Support Foundation) will be dedicated to Emerging plagues in the 21st century: The case of the Ebola epidemic.
Toby Merlin (US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, CDC) and Brian McCloskey (Public Health England, PHE) are going to talk about the response planned respectively in US and UK, with a focus on communication issues.
Nigel Dowdall (UK Civil Aviation Authority) will deal with the need of cooperation between global aviation and public health: an intersectorial perspective, key for a successful response.
Roberto Satolli (Zadig srl) is also expected to contribute with his views from the field, as he currently works on a clinical trial against Ebola in Sierra Leone. You can read on the TELL ME website his first impressions directly from the field.
TELL ME Final Conference: a bridge between science and society about risk communication to prevent and protect against infectious disease outbreaks.
Donato Greco, an epidemiologist with a large experience in infectious diseases and public health, will chair a closing panel on how a good risk communication can help to prevent and protect against infectious disease outbreaks. The discussion will be introduced by Pierluigi Lopalco, Head of Vaccine Preventable Diseases programme at ECDC, with a talk on how bad communication can destroy a well-planned vaccination programme. A debate will follow about how false myths and bad communication can endanger prevention of preventable communicable infectious diseases, with the participation of Alberto Tozzi (Ospedale Bambin Gesù, Rome), a paediatrician with experience in communication, Francesca Russo (Venice Prevention Directorate - Region of Veneto), Itamar Grotto (Israel Ministry of Health) and by-standing journalists.
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