Communicating about emerging infectious disease: The importance of research

Emerging infectious diseases have taken on renewed significance in the public health sector since the 1990s. Worldwide, governments are preparing emergency plans to guide them; their plans acknowledge that communication will be vital in the event of an outbreak. However, much of the emerging infectious disease communication literature deals with one-way transmission of facts to the public by experts. Little attention is paid to how differently various groups conceptualize risk, or to the idea that there is more to communication than the intentional transfer of information. Emerging infectious disease communication is often based in traditional health promotion or emergency/crisis communication literature, where it is assumed that the only ‘enemy’ is the disease, the right course of action is obvious and the expertise (coming from a public health assumed to be value-free) will not be questioned. Research tends to be limited to exploring barriers to understanding or education, to facilitate better message development. Emerging infectious disease communication research should be broadened to include exploration of implicit assumptions about the nature of the problem at hand (and how to deal with it) as well as the concepts of uncertainty, trust, power, values and biases. Recent risk communication theory, whose focus has historically been on more obviously controversial technological/environmental situations, should guide such research, as it would highlight important contextual factors in which to embed emerging infectious disease communication. This article reviews existing emerging infectious disease communications literature, discusses risk communications theories that could broaden emerging infectious disease communication research, and suggests next steps in a research agenda.