Risk Communication for Public Health Emergencies Workshop Facilitator's Guide: 2010 Edition

From the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) and World Health Organization (WHO), this guide offers a detailed description of a simulation exercise whose aim is to encourage improved risk communication for public health emergencies among national public health authorities. The capacity-building workshop whose steps are outlined in this guide is designed to encourage and facilitate improved risk communication for public health emergencies as part of the surveillance and response requirements of the International Health Regulations (IHR) 2005.

The workshop is described here as ideally including 24 to 32 participants, allowing for 4 workgroups of 6 to 8 individuals. The simulation exercise, which revolves around scenarios that take place in 2 hypothetical countries at opposite geographical ends of the PAHO region ("Southland" and "Northland"), uses presentations, role play, and various tasks as a means to engage participants through a series of decision-making challenges, discussion to assess the choices made, and consideration of the practical capacity-building steps required.

Following an introduction to the facilitator guide, the resource includes:

• Module 1: Transparency and First Announcement of a Real or Potential Risk
• Module 2: Public Communication Coordination
• Module 3: Information Dissemination Including Media Relations
• Module 4: Listening through Dialogue
• Module 5: Building Capacity: National Action Plan
• Annex 1: Creating a Productive Workshop Environment
• Annex 2: Sample Workshop Agenda

This resource emerged from a PAHO/WHO workshop that was held in Lima, Peru, from March 23-24 2010.