Risk communication is a key component of emergency response that all countries should have in order to respond to health threats. It is one of the eight core capacities under the International Health Regulations (IHR) - a legal framework designed to help countries prevent and respond to public health risks.

The main purpose of this training resource package is to provide those who perform risk communication tasks in their work, especially during emergencies, with risk communication principles and best practices in order to strengthen their skills in this area. This curriculum leverages the existing risk communication curriculum and related materials to improve content, enhance features, add supplemental tools and templates, and new exercises. The general aim of developing this training package was to:

• Improve quality and enhanced features of existing classroom-based field model risk communication training curriculum
• Expand curriculum for additional target audiences
• Develop a field toolkit for risk communication, including various tools, templates, and guidance documents

This training package was developed as a result of the 2020-Present COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, the example disease/scenario used throughout the materials is COVID-19.

Target Audiences

The curriculum can be accessed and used by broader range of stakeholders, including communication professionals from national governments, CDC regional/country office staff, and Field Epidemiology Training Program (FETP) students, alumni, and epidemiologists that need to communicate with their Ministry of Health (MOH) about risks associated with an outbreak, for example.

Language

English

Training Resources

Four products resulted from this work:

1. 2.5-Day Workshop Curriculum for MOH communication specialists
2. One-Day Workshop Curriculum for the FETP community (residents, staff, alumni)
3. COVID-19 and Risk Communication Overview/Resource module
4. Risk Communication Resource Toolkit

Structure and Timing

These are individual products to be used by different target audiences. Each product is a self-contained resource to be used in an in-person setting.

• The 2.5-day workshop is tailored for MOH communication specialists but is a great in-depth introduction to risk communication for other target audiences as well.
• The one-day workshop is tailored specifically for the FETP community, focusing on those topics from the 2.5 workshop that are most relevant for that audience, for a higher level introduction.
• The COVID-19-specific module is a 90-minute module that provides a general overview to risk communication and COVID-19, for any target audience.
• Lastly, the Resource Toolkit is a practical job aid that any target audience member could use while working in the field outside of a classroom setting.

Access

Each training resource can be downloaded from the files at the bottom of this page.

For a related self-guided e-learning course on risk communication with zika as the example disease/scenario, please click here.

Disclaimer

This publication (journal article, etc.) was supported by Grant or Cooperative Agreement number NU2GGH001873 funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Its contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Department of Health and Human Services, The Task Force for Global Health, Inc. or TEPHINET

For more information about these modules, please contact TEPHINET Learning, at learning@tephinet.org.