@article{ref1,
title="Preparing for effective communications during disasters: lessons from a World Health Organization quality improvement project",
journal="International journal of emergency medicine",
year="2014",
author="Medford-Davis, Laura N. and Kapur, G. Bobby",
volume="7",
number="1",
pages="15-15",
abstract="BACKGROUND: One hundred ninety-four member nations turn to the World Health Organization (WHO) for guidance and assistance during disasters. <br><br>PURPOSEs of disaster communication include preventing panic, promoting appropriate health behaviors, coordinating response among stakeholders, advocating for affected populations, and mobilizing resources. <br><br>METHODS: A quality improvement project was undertaken to gather expert consensus on best practices that could be used to improve WHO protocols for disaster communication. Open-ended surveys of 26 WHO Communications Officers with disaster response experience were conducted. Responses were categorized to determine the common themes of disaster response communication and areas for practice improvement. <br><br>RESULTS: Disasters where the participants had experience included 29 outbreaks of 13 different diseases in 16 countries, 18 natural disasters of 6 different types in 15 countries, 2 technical disasters in 2 countries, and ten conflicts in 10 countries. <br><br>CONCLUSION: Recommendations to build communications capacity prior to a disaster include pre-writing public service announcements in multiple languages on questions that frequently arise during disasters; maintaining a database of statistics for different regions and types of disaster; maintaining lists of the locally trusted sources of information for frequently affected countries and regions; maintaining email listservs of employees, international media outlet contacts, and government and non-governmental organization contacts that can be used to rapidly disseminate information; developing a global network with 24-h cross-coverage by participants from each time zone; and creating a central electronic sharepoint where all of these materials can be accessed by communications officers around the globe.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="1865-1372",
doi="10.1186/1865-1380-7-15",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1865-1380-7-15"
}