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Welcome to Let’s Talk Public Health! Phew — 2020 and 2021 have proven to be trying years for public health. Public health had a major publicity problem before the COVID-19 pandemic reared its head in December 2019. The general public had little interest in public health, and cross-sector leaders had limited understanding of public health. With the pandemic, public health has become front and center. Many people who had never heard the term “public health” or cared enough to know what it meant, have been jolted into the world of epidemiology and disease control. You can see from Google Trends data that “public health” has had two massive spikes in interest in the last two decades: around the Swine Flu pandemic (2009) and the COVID-19 pandemic (2019).  Question: Why does it take a pandemic to get public health on the radar? The COVID-19 pandemic has contributed to a public health awakening of sorts. In addition to increasing awareness of public health, the pandemic has boosted interest in undergraduate and graduate public health programs, and spurred new interest ($7.4B in federal funding) in bolstering public health infrastructure and workforce. In fact, part of this new funding includes $250M in health literacy grants to promote COVID-19 vaccination and other protective public health responses in communities with underserved populations. Given that several state and federal government coronavirus websites are written at or above a Flesch-Kincaid 11th-grade level (a health literacy no-no), this funding is certainly needed. The pandemic has also highlighted the lack of public health infrastructure, capacity, and resources. For example, many local health departments lack funds for a Public Information Officer or communications team. This public health emergency continues to test the health communication skills of public health professionals, and has shown us that we all have room for improvement. Another question: Why does it take a pandemic for people to understand the importance of health communication skills? Even with the communication blunders--and also the death threats, misinformation, and political interference—I am optimistic that the realizations made during this period can only lead to positive change and improvement. What does health communication beyond the COVID-19 pandemic look like? Better. It must be better. There is already discussion happening around the future of public health, and what we need to do to better prepare and equip public health professionals to communicate effectively with the public, media, and cross-sector partners. At Let’s Talk Public Health, we want to take an active role in this public health awakening and health communication discussion.
We’re on a journey to help public health students, professionals, and organizations increase the clarity, accessibility, effectiveness, and (we daresay) creativity of the health messages, materials, information, and data they create and share. Thank you for joining us and supporting us on this journey! Sincerely, Monique Thornton, MPH
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Digital Health
1. For the latest in health technology innovation
Publisher: Dan Kendall / Part of the Health Podcast Network
Title: Digital Health Today Avg. Episode Length: 25 minutes Description: This podcast features the insights, experience and knowledge of health tech innovators from around the world. Website: https://digitalhealthtoday.com/podcast/dan-kendall/ 
Who is Gen Z?
According to Pew Research Center, Gen Z was born from 1997 to 2012, making them (in 2019) 7 to 22 years old. Gen Z makes up 23% of the U.S. population--that’s over 68 million Americans. Almost half (46%) of Gen Zers are racial/ethnic minorities (one in four are Hispanic), making this generation the most diverse yet.
Gen Z grew up during the age of mobile broadband and WiFi technology, mobile devices, mobile applications, and social media. While other generations (i.e., Baby Boomers, Gen X, and Millennials) had to adapt to these innovative technologies, platforms, and methods of accessing the internet, for Gen Z, these innovations were native. As such, Gen Z is accustomed to constant connectivity and the ability to access entertainment and information on-demand. Gen Z grew up during the Great Recession of 2008, which has made them more financially conservative. Additionally, Gen Zers have been all too familiar with gun violence, making them the most likely generation to report experiencing poor mental health and seeking treatment and therapy. Welcome to Let's Talk Public Health!
The new year brings us into a new decade, and with that, comes a new set of Healthy People objectives. It may surprise you to know that health communication is a topic area covered by Healthy People. In 2010, 13 “Health Communication and Health Information Technology” goals were included for Healthy People 2020, each with at least one objective (for a total of 25 measurable objectives):
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Tis the season for many things: cold temperatures, the holiday rush, and, of course, one of the largest annual gatherings of public health professionals (the American Public Health Association Annual Meeting). The theme for this year’s annual meeting was: “Creating the Healthiest Nation: For science. For action. For health." In order for us to achieve this goal, we must take time to understand the nation’s people. Who are they? Where are they? What is their current health status? Which social determinants of health are impacting them? What barriers to healthy living and quality of life are they facing? What are their health-related knowledge, attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors? And so on. While there is a good deal of research on past generations, the literature on the newly coined “Gen Z” (those people currently ages 7-22) is limited, but growing. This fall, we aim to understand Gen Z -- their attitudes and beliefs around health and how they seek and interact with health information. Engaging Gen Z, the first generation of “digital natives,” will require public health organizations and brands to be up with the latest trends in digital content marketing. We’ll be talking about that as well. Stay tuned for our series on Gen Z + Health. Best, Monique Thornton, MPH 
What is The Disaster Diaries of Rhyane Jane?
It’s the first media production of Let’s Talk Public Health, and we’re absolutely and completely excited about it. The Disaster Diaries of Rhyane Jane (DDRJ) is an edutainment web series that includes:
Welcome to Let's Talk Public Health!
It’s back-to-school time, and this month, we’re focusing on entertainment education (or edutainment). How can we share health information and conduct health education in an environment where people are bombarded with 4,000 to 10,000 ads each day? How do we grasp their attention? How do we get people engaged in the conversation? One idea: We entertain them. We meet them with messages in the shows and movies they are watching, the literature and content they are reading, and the podcasts and other audio to which they are listening. We do what corporations and commercial businesses have been doing for years: product placement.
You following me? I'm talking about incorporating health messages and behaviors into the dialogue and plot lines of popular fictional stories about characters people are invested in or can easily get invested in. How can we do this? Stay tuned. We've got some great content in store for you this month, including:
Best, Monique Thornton, MPH  Part of health communication is working with unexpected, non-traditional partners to share health messages in innovative and engaging ways. The “Outbreak: Epidemics in a Connected World” exhibit at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History is just that. This novel exhibit communicates about infectious disease outbreaks to the public using interactive multimedia and gamification.
Welcome to Let's Talk Public Health!
The digital space is evolving. That means that we, as public health communication professionals, need to evolve too. Keeping up with new developments and advances in technology will be key in maximizing our reach to our target audiences. The Tech + Health Comm blog post for June discusses voice technology and how health-related brands/organizations can optimize for voice search. If you haven't already, also check out the previous Tech + Health Comm post on virtual reality, augmented reality, and 360-degree content. These technologies are still burgeoning. As they advance and as new features and uses emerge, so do potential opportunities to reach target audiences with public health content. Let's not miss out! Thanks for visiting the site. I hope you come back soon. Better yet, become a contributor. There are lots of things to discuss! Best, Monique Thornton, MPH 
Why do you need to optimize for voice search?
Because, voice assistants and other voice search-enabled mobile applications are available on most electronic devices, including smartphones, tablets, laptops, desktops, smart speakers, smart TVs, wearables and even cars. And by 2020, 30 to 50% of all searches will occur via voice. |
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