Risk communication in times of crisis: Pitfalls and challenges in ensuring preparedness instead of hysterics.

Abstract

In 2013, a 2‐year‐old boy in Guinea in West Africa was infected with the Ebola virus. In the following months, the virus spread quickly, eventually reaching the USA and Western Europe and causing the largest Ebola epidemic to date. For risk communicators, the epidemic is an interesting case study for risk communication in both African and Western countries during a crisis. It raises intriguing questions: Was the public efficiently and appropriately informed during the outbreak? Can risk communication serve as a preventive measure to avoid panic and to persuade populations of necessary health measures? Why did the first Ebola cases outside Africa trigger exaggerated and even hysterical media reports in the USA and Spain? Which countries provided reliable information to the public through adequate communication, including on scientific uncertainties? > The experience from the Ebola epidemic […] show that communication in times of crisis is more efficient if the public has trust in the competent authorities and experts Globalisation has created unprecedented freedom to travel to other countries, to experience foreign cultures or to buy exotic products from local markets and supermarkets. On the downside, it has also enabled infectious agents to quickly spread around the globe, as has happened in the past 10 years with severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), H5N1 avian influenza and Ebola. The high mortality rate of some of these diseases and the sometimes‐exaggerated media coverage of their spread has frightened people at times. On the other hand, communication by public institutions and experts—and by the media—has played an important role in adequately presenting the risks of various outbreaks and preventing the public from panicking. The experience from the Ebola epidemic—and the preceding cases of SARS and H5N1—shows that communication in times of crisis is more efficient if the public has trust in the competent authorities and …