Between art and information: communicating world health, 1948-70.

Alexander Medcalf

doi:10.1017/s1740022817000304

Abstract

With the advent of new media technologies and approaches in the twentieth century, public health officials became convinced that health needed mass media support. The World Health Organization believed that educating people, as well as informing them about the health situation around the world, could assist in the enduring fight against disease. Yet in an increasingly competitive media landscape, the agency recognized the need to persuade people and hold their attention through attractive presentation. Public information, the name given to the multiple strategies used to communicate with the public, was rarely straightforward and required the agency not only to monitor the impact of its own efforts but also to identify opportunities to further enhance its reputation, especially when this was in danger of damage or misappropriation. The WHO's understanding of public information provides insights into the development of international information, communication, and education networks and practices after 1945, as well as the increasingly central position of these processes in generating support for and evincing the value of international organizations.

Highlights

Officials throughout the different sections of the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations (UN) were both enticed by and apprehensive about the idea
The World Health Organization believed that educating people, as well as informing them about the health situation around the world, could assist in the enduring fight against disease
The name given to the multiple strategies used to communicate with the public, was rarely straightforward and required the agency to monitor the impact of its own efforts and to identify opportunities to further enhance its reputation, especially when this was in danger of damage or misappropriation

Summary

The rise of public information

The beginning of international cooperation in the field of health is commonly traced to the organization of the Sanitary Conferences, the first of which was held in 1851. ‘Basic’ public information materials included those which were ‘written, oral or visual, explaining the history, purpose, philosophy, structure and methods of work of the Organization, and describing various health activities which are its concern’.38 For internal purposes, this documentation was divided into ‘general documentation’ and ‘specialized reporting’, it was acknowledged that no hard and fast distinction was possible.[39] The folder titled ‘WHO, what it is, what it does, how it works’ provided essential facts about the WHO’s operation, while booklets such as ‘Strategy for world health’ and the more romantically titled ‘The lamp is lit’ presented the story of the agency and its practical work in a popular form. To appreciate how these stories fitted in with the broader demands of public information, it is necessary to go beyond and behind the published photographs to explore the organizational culture responsible for their compilation and selection

As seen through the eyes of the WHO

The problems of public information

Findings

Conclusions