Communicating the Risk of Infectious Diseases in a Changing Climate

A changing climate brings the threat of emerging, new infectious diseases and the resurgence of old infectious outbreaks. To ensure that public health professionals and policy makers receive timely information, effective risk communication must be used.

NCCEH and NCCID jointly presented a webinar last year that provided different perspectives on communicating risk in an “environment of change". The objectives of the webinar were to:

1. present a range of perspectives on good risk communication for public health stakeholders and
2. to discuss how public health can contribute to effective messaging by providing some examples of emerging and resurging infectious diseases in the context of a changing climate.

Presenters:

• Craig Stephen, DVM, PhD, Chief Executive Officer, Canadian Wildlife Health Cooperative; Clinical Associate Professor, School of Population and Public Health, Faculty of Medicine, University of British Columbia
• Anne-Marie Nicol, PhD, Environmental Health and Knowledge Translation Scientist, National Collaborating Centre for Environmental Health; Associate Professor, Faculty of Health Sciences, Simon Fraser University
• Negar Elmieh, MS, PhD, Life Sciences Tutor (Epidemiology), Quest University

Moderator: 

Christine Navarro, MD, MSc, CCFP, FRCPC, Associate Medical Officer of Health, Toronto Public Health