Qatar
Wish appoints chair for its health communication forum
Wish appoints chair for its health communication forum
The World Innovation Summit for Health (Wish), a global initiative of Qatar Foundation, has appointed L Suzanne Suggs, associate professor of social marketing and head of BeCHANGE Research Group, Institute for Public Communication at the Università della Svizzera italiana (Lugano, Switzerland), to chair its Communicating Complex Health Messages Forum. |
Prof Suggs will lead a multidisciplinary working group of distinguished experts to produce evidence-based research and recommendations to address the key challenges facing policy-makers, governments and other groups responsible for communicating difficult and complex health policy issues.
The forum will assess public understanding of the science behind complex health issues, such as defining complex health issues, and analyse how communication differs between non-complex and complex health issues with different audiences.
The forum will also explore contested health information, including the sources and framing of communication within different populations across the world. It aims to identify the role of ICT and media in communication and societal debate on issues of health policy and emphasise the role and responsibilities of politicians, healthcare professionals, celebrities and other opinion formers in the communication of health policy. It also plans to develop a policy framework for designing effective health communication.
The forum will publish an evidence-based report and present its findings and recommendations for discussion at the next Wish Summit taking place on February 17-18, 2015, in Doha.
“This forum is an exciting opportunity to bring together academics, industry leaders and policy-makers to discuss how complex health issues can be communicated effectively to the public and key decision-makers. We have assembled a group of global experts, each focused on achieving better public health, to work together on the forum,” said Prof Suggs.
Prof the Lord Darzi of Denham, executive chair of Wish and director of the Institute of Global Health Innovation at Imperial College of London, said: “The communication of science and health policy to the public is a major policy issue. Defining the future of healthcare communication that will tackle this issue would be beneficial to all countries all over the globe, including Qatar. Dissemination of accurate, trustworthy, relevant and timely information on health policy matters is critical to improving population health and well-being.”
Prof Suggs’s principal research focuses on health behaviour change communication and social change through ICT and innovative communication strategies. She is also a co-founder and on the board of the European Social Marketing Association and was on the organising board for the International Social Marketing Association.
Communicating Complex Health Messages is one of seven research work streams to be presented at the 2015 Wish summit, where leading global experts will join an influential community of heads of state, government ministers, academics, clinicians, policy-makers and business leaders to discuss innovative solutions to some of the most pressing global health challenges.