Flu from A to Z
People change their behavior during an epidemic. Infectious members of a population may reduce the number of contacts they make with other people because of the physical effects of their illness and possibly because of public health announcements asking them to do so in order to decrease the number of new infections, while susceptible members of the population may reduce the number of contacts they make in order to try to avoid becoming infected. It is thus well recognized that human behavior critically influences infectious disease transmission.
Understanding the dynamics of population behaviour increases the effectiveness of risk communication and management. Fundamental and positive attributes like neighborly and altruism can arise spontaneously when people face a major emergency; these positive features should be used to enhance readiness, response and recovery from the spread of communicable diseases, and promote protective behaviors. It is also highly important to take into account audience diversity in terms of ethnicity, culture, religion, language, gender, age, etc, and the possibility that these differences may lead to stigmatization and discrimination.
Understanding the dynamics of population behaviour increases the effectiveness of risk communication and management. Fundamental and positive attributes like neighborly and altruism can arise spontaneously when people face a major emergency; these positive features should be used to enhance readiness, response and recovery from the spread of communicable diseases, and promote protective behaviors. It is also highly important to take into account audience diversity in terms of ethnicity, culture, religion, language, gender, age, etc, and the possibility that these differences may lead to stigmatization and discrimination.
