Communicating risk in public health emergencies: a WHO guideline for emergency risk communication (‎ERC)‎ policy and practice

These guidelines provide evidence-based guidance on how risk communication should be practiced in an emergency, including guidance to countries on building capacity for communicating risk during health emergencies. This includes guidance on: building trust and engaging with communities and affected populations; integrating risk communication into existing national and local emergency preparedness and response structures; and emergency risk communication practice—from strategizing, planning, coordinating, messaging, channeling, and different methods and approaches of communication and engagement, to monitoring and evaluation—based on a systematic assessment of the evidence on what worked and what did not work during recent emergencies.

This includes guidance on: building trust and engaging with communities and affected populations; integrating risk communication into existing national and local emergency preparedness and response structures; · ERC practice – It covers strategizing, planning, coordinating, messaging, channelling and different methods and approaches of communication and engagement. It also touches on monitoring and evaluation – based on a systematic assessment of the evidence on what worked and what did not work during recent emergencies.

Last modified: March 31, 2022

Language: Arabic, Chinese, English, Portuguese