Effective Risk Communication for Public Health Emergency: Reflection on the COVID-19 (2019-nCoV) Outbreak in Wuhan, China
1
School of Public Administration, Jilin University, Changchun 130012, China
2
Institute of Urban Governance, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen 518060, China
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Healthcare 2020, 8(1), 64; https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare8010064
Received: 27 February 2020
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Revised: 16 March 2020
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Accepted: 18 March 2020
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Published: 21 March 2020
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Novel Coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) Outbreak: Epidemiology, Research and Implications for Public Health)
Risk communication is critical to emergency management. The objective of this paper is to illustrate the effective process and attention points of risk communication reflecting on the COVID-19 (2019-nCoV) outbreak in Wuhan, China. We provide the timeline of risk communication progress in Wuhan and use a message-centered approach to identify problems that it entailed. It was found that the delayed decision making of the local government officials and the limited information disclosure should be mainly responsible for the ineffective risk communication. The principles for effective risk communication concerning Wuhan’s outbreak management were also discussed. The whole communication process is suggested to integrate the accessibility and openness of risk information, the timing and frequency of communication, and the strategies dealing with uncertainties. Based on these principles and lessons from Wuhan’s case, this paper employed a simplified Government–Expert–Public risk communication model to illustrate a collaborative network for effective risk communication.
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Keywords:
risk communication; public health; outbreak management; COVID-19
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MDPI and ACS Style
Zhang, L.; Li, H.; Chen, K. Effective Risk Communication for Public Health Emergency: Reflection on the COVID-19 (2019-nCoV) Outbreak in Wuhan, China. Healthcare 2020, 8, 64. https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare8010064
AMA Style
Zhang L, Li H, Chen K. Effective Risk Communication for Public Health Emergency: Reflection on the COVID-19 (2019-nCoV) Outbreak in Wuhan, China. Healthcare. 2020; 8(1):64. https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare8010064
Chicago/Turabian StyleZhang, Liwei, Huijie Li, and Kelin Chen. 2020. "Effective Risk Communication for Public Health Emergency: Reflection on the COVID-19 (2019-nCoV) Outbreak in Wuhan, China" Healthcare 8, no. 1: 64. https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare8010064
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