Ecom (Effective Communication in Outbreak Management) guide on how to develop and run pandemic communication and behavioural programmes has been published.

Outbreaks of infectious diseases pose significant communication challenges to health authorities. An interdisciplinary approach of social, behavioural, communication and media sciences is needed for effective behavioural and communication strategies to respond to the need for large-scale measures such as vaccination and antiviral therapy and increase its acceptance.

This is where the EU Funded Ecom project steps in. The project is focused on influencing behaviour prior to, during and after pandemic events and aims to develop an evidence-based behavioural and communication package for health professionals and agencies throughout Europe in case of major outbreaks of infectious diseases. The Ecom project is complete and all research, findings and tools have now been published for dissemination.

You can explore the project here.