The Politics of Emerging Infectious Disease
Presented by John Rainford
Director, Emergency Risk Communication,
Public health Agency of Canada
June 2013
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H5N1
SARS H1N1
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“Politics is who gets what, when, and how”
Harold Lasswell
Health Emergencies are Political
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Understanding Stakeholders Perspectives
What do they know?
What might they misunderstand?
Who do they trust?
Decision-Makers are stakeholders – why don’t we try to understand them?
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“If you want to persuade me, think my thoughts, feel my feelings and speak my words.”
Cicero
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Political Crisis Comms VS Health Emergency Comms
• Discuss uncertainty, even mistakes
• Empathize with dissenting views
• Focus on how risk is perceived
• Signal strength and control
• Challenge arguments of dissenting views
• Focus on how political actors are perceived
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Advocacyschool.org
• To effectively engage political representatives and leaders you have to understand:
• Public policy context
• Positioning
• Process
• Precedent
• PoliticsPOLIO
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Effective Leader Engagement during Health Emergencies
• Brief broadly – public health+++
• Share stakeholder intelligence
• Demonstrate how consequences will be managed
• Give leaders an opportunity to LEAD