Learning from recent outbreaks to strengthen risk communication capacity for the next influenza pandemic in the Western Pacific Region
When an influenza pandemic swept the globe in 1918, it was nicknamed the “Spanish flu” despite evidence of circulation in other countries. This was because the Spanish press were free to publish stories about the outbreak that peers in neighbouring countries were not due to wartime censors.1 Other g...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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World Health Organization Regional Office for the Western Pacific
2019-11-01
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| Series: | Western Pacific Surveillance and Response |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://ojs.wpro.who.int/ojs/index.php/wpsar/article/view/640/900 |
| Summary: | When an influenza pandemic swept the globe in 1918, it was nicknamed the “Spanish flu” despite evidence of circulation in other countries. This was because the Spanish press were free to publish stories about the outbreak that peers in neighbouring countries were not due to wartime censors.1 Other governments hid negative news about the pandemic and over-reassured the public. Attempts to prevent panic backfired, and the resulting breakdown in trust “threatened to break the society apart”.1 |
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| ISSN: | 2094-7321 2094-7313 |