Over the past week CORE Group Executive Director, Lisa Hilmi, has been in Bangkok, Thailand attending and participating in the annual Prince Mahidol Award Conference (PMAC). The conference focuses on policy-related health issues, and this year all the sessions aligned with the theme: “Making the World Safe from the Threats of Emerging Infectious Diseases.”
As a panelist for the session on “Communicating risk during epidemics: Can I trust you?” Lisa and the other panelists shared their knowledge and experiences regarding communication during emergency situations, focusing on epidemics. There was an emphasis on the importance of trust in risk communication during emergencies, which was backed by evidence and practice recorded during various epidemics that have ensued over the past few years; such as: MERS (2013), Ebola (2014) and Zika (2016). The session stressed the importance of trust in order to ensure that the appropriate measures are taken to avoid unnecessary death, disease and disability that could cause damage to the social and economic systems of the country in distress.