Empowering the European Citizen: the ECDC Web Communication

Empowering the patient

through

information delivery

ECDC

The European Centre

for Disease Prevention and

Control

Why was ECDC established?

Emerging and re-emerging communicable diseases revitalised through globalisation, bio-terrorism, interconnectivity, and an EU without internal borders

Health implications of enlarging EU

Strengthen EU public health capacity to help

meet EU citizen's concerns

ECDC: A young EU agency dedicated to the prevention and

control of communicable diseases

What is the role of ECDC?

EU-level disease surveillance and epidemic intelligence

Scientific opinions and studies

Early Warning System and response

Technical assistance and training

Communication to scientific community

Communication to the public

Identify, assess and communicate current and emerging

health threats to human health from communicable diseases

Health Communication

activities

to support patients/citizens

empowerment

Objectives

Support Countries on their efforts to promote positive

perceptions and grounds for change on communicable

diseases related behaviours;

Support Countries on their efforts to raise levels of

public knowledge on communicable diseases;

Support Countries on their efforts to promote positive

attitudes towards preventive behaviours that minimise

the risks from communicable diseases.

Some examples

What ECDC does to support Member states‟

efforts to empower patients/users in the field of

infectious diseases?

The pandemic H1N1 page

Toolkits

Campaigns

Information on Pandemic

A(H1N1)

Maps

Daily situation update Risk assessment Q&As

Personal protectives mesures

Toolkits

Chikungunya toolkit (2008)Seasonal influenza toolkit (2007)

Main objectives

1

Support national health authorities

Address specific communicable diseases Prevention and control messages Target different audiences

Templates for use/adaptation As a whole As an input/bank of ideas According to national strategies and needs

Chikungunya toolkit

Information on an emerging disease in Europe

Focus: prevention and control

Targets 3 key audiences: General public in affected areas Visitors travelling to affected areas Healthcare professionals (HCP)

Template materials: Factsheets (travellers / public / HCP) Posters (travellers) Brochure (public) Presentation (public / HCP) Questionnaire (HCP)

Specific logo and key messages

1

Seasonal influenza toolkit

Information on seasonal influenza and personal preventive measures

Focus: “How to avoid spread of flu”

Targets 2 key audiences: General public (adults) Children

Template materials: Factsheet (adults) Posters (adults / children) Brochure (adults) Information card (children) Game ideas (children)

ECDC logo and key messages

1

Examples of use of ECDC toolkits

(2009)Belgian Ministry of Health

Ministry of Health of the Netherlands

1

Campaigns

European Antibiotic Awareness Day

Objective: provide key messages and campaign

materials that could be used in national campaigns

to raise awareness about prudent antibiotic use

Message – 'Cold? Flu? Take care, not antibiotics!„

Materials targeting general public and primary care

prescribers

European Antibiotic Awareness

Day – multilingual website

TV and Web spots

European Antibiotic Awareness Day

Available from:http://antibiotic.ecdc.europa.eu

Future initiatives

Futures initiatives

Launch of the multilingual websites

Information for general public in 25 languages

Highlight information from national health institutions

Give access to a set of tools which can evolve

according to users needs and technical

developments (special interfaces for PDAs, mobile phones and

other mobile devices)

Social networking

Establish a presence on social media platforms To promote our activities in the field of infectious diseases

To provide educational information aimed at the general public

To reach an audience we might not be able to reach otherwise

Facebook, Youtube, Twitter, blogs, widgets, RSS feeds

Connect and interact with our audience To go where people talk and join the conversation

To get feedback from all stakeholders

To build communities

To connect and interact with people who can contribute with content

Twitter, news-alerts, wikis, blogs, surveys

2

Thanks for your attention