Risk Communication

“Crisis and emergency risk communication is the attempt by science or public health professionals to provide information that allows an individual, stakeholders or an entire community, to make the best possible decisions about their well-being, under nearly impossible time constraints, and to communicate those decisions, while accepting the imperfect nature of their choices.”

– Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)

• Channels of Communication typically include formal networks of communication such as television, radio, print materials, community health workers, and educational outreach information as well as informal networks such as neighborhood meetings, family members and friends.
• Emergency Decision Making refers to the process through which individuals evaluate emergency situations, interoperate warnings, and choose to pursue specific courses of action within a cultural context.
• Message Content refers to the message or information that is developed and disseminated to individuals and communities pre-, during and post-emergency event.