The ASEF Public Health Network organised the workshop ‘Effective Risk Communication for Public Health Emergencies and the Role of Social Media’, 3-4 June 2013, in Bali, Indonesia. This was the final workshop under the Public Health Network’s ASEF-ASAP (Accurate Scenarios Active Preparedness) project.
The workshop participants conducted two case-studies, the first on the E.coli outbreak in Europe and the second on Japan’s nuclear disaster following the earthquake and tsunami in 2011. The case studies were undertaken to identify gaps in current risk communication strategies related to these incidents.
One of the main topics of discussion during the workshop was the issue of ‘trust’ in communication and its impact on internal communication between authorities and external communication with the general public. Subsequently, the participants developed recommendations to address these issues, while these recommendations were also tested against the ASEF-ASAP scenarios to gauge their applicability in the future.
The workshop brought together a diverse group of stakeholders in risk communication, from international, regional, and national organisations, to representatives from civil society organisations, academia, media and online opinion leaders. A report with a summary of the outcomes of their discussions will be available soon online.