Effective Communication Strategy

A Guide to Effective Communication Strategy on Health According to Ratzan (2001), communication is not the mere message repetition. It should include the development of an environment for community involvement to espouse common values of human kind. People should already prepare themselves as communication strikes to advance health and health care delivery today. In formulating a communication strategy, it must always begin with the analysis of the situation to be followed by the communication strategy itself. To achieve an effective communication campaign to any health program, one must make sure first of health literacy. Health literacy is defined “as the degree to which individuals have the capacity to obtain, process, and understand

According to Designing Health Communication Strategy from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health/Center for Communication Programs, begin with the use of analysis of the situation to observe, gather, organize, and assess relevant factors. These factors include the nature and extent of the problem, audience characteristics, available resources, and the communication environment. Through this data, factors can easily be identified and can be of great help to a stronger communication strategic plan for a health campaign. It is always best to look beyond the factual information at hand and look at the health problem, if there is, in a broader environmental context. There is the need to compare the shared vision with your understanding of the present situation, and there is a need to understand why there is a difference between the two. But if the problem is already identified, it is still important to check the validity of it. It is very important to avoid beginning with a preconceived notion about the health problem that may only be based on old information or limited understanding of stakeholder

The shared history of blood donation in the world and in the Philippines are discussed to elaborate on the progress of the blood donation program throughout the years and why it is essential to conduct and to participate in donating blood. The Philippines has become a strong partner of the world in maintaining adequate blood supply for the Filipinos as what is part of its law, the RA 7719 and city ordinance. Barangay 19-B, a blood services network of DOH and PNRC, annually conducts bloodletting programs in their community. Studies on blood donation around the world surrounded on knowledge, perception and motivation but the recommendations stated all the same–a study that would create or evaluate the communication strategies for blood donation. Two health campaigns were presented to elaborate on the importance of communication strategies to effectively send the right message to the right people. Lastly, guide for communication strategy from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health/Center for Communication Programs was presented to better understand what works in promoting health-related