Ensure timely and effective communications
Lessons learned from 9/11, Hurricane Katrina, and other incidents illustrate the critical role
that communication plays during a response. In fact, effective communications both among
responders at all levels of government and between responders and the public are critical to
nearly every aspect of national health security—from building strong relationships and
partnerships before an incident to achieving situational awareness and a high level of
coordination among public and private organizations during a response to informing and
disseminating information to the public about risks, ongoing incidents, and recovery.
Effective communication is a multidimensional concept that includes both social and
technological components. In terms of the social part of communication, increased attention
must be devoted to the ways in which people exchange critical information before, during,
and after a health incident. For example, trusted sources of information must be developed
prior to an incident and then utilized during an incident in ways that elicit timely and
appropriate responses on the part of individuals, families, communities, and governments. In
addition, effective communication goes beyond dissemination of messages to the public, and
also involves regular information exchanges with the public and the development of trusted
networks that facilitate the public’s ability to communicate with responders at all levels of
government before, during, and after an incident.
Steps must be taken to improve communications between the health and emergency response
systems, as well as private-sector and community-based organizations, to better coordinate
response activities. This may require, for instance, using a pre-established single trusted
point of communication (which may be an individual or an institution) during an incident that
is responsible for providing critical information to all parties.
Enhancing the social aspects of communications strategies is critical to ensuring that
appropriate messages are received by and from the public. Effective risk communication
with the public is an ongoing process that should begin well in advance of an incident.
Information disseminated to the public must account for language and cultural differences to
ensure that emergency information and warnings, as well as ongoing education, enhance the
ability of individuals and communities to stay safe and make choices that increase their
likelihood of recovery. Effective risk communication involves being able to reach all
segments of the affected population, especially persons with limited English proficiency and
persons with disabilities, in ways they trust and understand, and to receive information from
the public through multiple channels. The media is a key partner in these efforts.
On the technological front, coordinated communications across all jurisdictions are needed to
support timely situational awareness and efficient response to an incident. For example,
appropriate technologies can be used to provide a coordinated means of disseminating
information about a public health risk or to locate residents and patients who have been