Communication tools to support public understanding and awareness of COVID-19 information

Building evidence-based knowledge, and access to the right information at the right time, are critical factors in enhancing health and wellbeing within communities, particularly during a health crisis such as a pandemic. The COVID-19 pandemic required trusted information resources and effective communication tools to support public understanding and awareness of COVID-19 information. The COVID-19 Printables project was a collaborative initiative which aimed to design and develop a rapidly deployable and inclusive communication tool to inform diverse communities and populations about COVID-19 precautions and response. The Printables were initiated to fill a public health communication gap in understandable and accessible communication tools for lower literacy levels, and minority and marginalized groups, such as immigrant and refugee communities. A community based participatory approach supported the engagement of community members and frontline physicians in the design process, guided by health information behaviour and social inclusion frameworks. The project resulted in the development of a series of open access, easy to use, adaptable, and multilingual (40+ languages) printables that have been used widely from emergency departments to refugee services and community health centres, in Canada and worldwide. They have been used by over 40,000 people in Canada alone.