Thursday, April 30, 2009

What to Say When a Pandemic Looks Imminent: Messaging for WHO Phases Four and Five

[This document was written in 2007. Since then, the pandemic stages have been changed. It is a very interesting document.]
Excerpt:

Our main goal is to suggest, in considerable detail, the sorts of messages we think people will need to hear when a pandemic looks imminent – focusing especially on the ones that are counterintuitive, that government and corporate sources are likeliest to neglect. We have tried to explain the rationale for each message in terms of crisis communication theory.


partial list of messages...

Imminent Pandemic Standby Messages

1.
It looks like a flu pandemic is about to start.
2.
It’s no longer about the birds.
3.
This is a new warning, more urgent than any warning so far.
4.
The experts still aren’t sure.
5.
We don’t know how bad it will be.
6.
Here’s what we know so far about the severity issue.

No comments: