Risk communication and public health

Abstract

Public health related crises have caused huge negative impacts on health, the economy, national and even international security. International experience shows that risk communication is an important means to facilitate different stakeholders to cooperate and share information in a public and environmental health crisis. In order to identify the role of risk communication in public health, this article will explore the literature for definitions of the terms: risk, communication and risk communication, describe the four development stages of risk communication and explain the role that risk communication plays in each stage, and will cover the principles, benefits of and barriers to effective risk communication, and the practices of risk communication in public health.