Schwind Jessica S, Norman Stephanie A, Karmacharya Dibesh, Wolking David J, Dixit Sameer M, Rajbhandari Rajesh M, Mekaru Sumiko R, Brownstein John S
Augusta University, Augusta, GA, USA.
Jiann-Ping Hsu College of Public Health, Georgia Southern University, P.O. Box 8015, 30460, Statesboro, GA, USA.
BMC Int Health Hum Rights. 2017 Sep 21;17(1):26. doi: 10.1186/s12914-017-0134-2.
Traditional media and the internet are crucial sources of health information. Media can significantly shape public opinion, knowledge and understanding of emerging and endemic health threats. As digital communication rapidly progresses, local access and dissemination of health information contribute significantly to global disease detection and reporting.
Health event reports in Nepal (October 2013-December 2014) were used to characterize Nepal's media environment from a One Health perspective using HealthMap - a global online disease surveillance and mapping tool. Event variables (location, media source type, disease or risk factor of interest, and affected species) were extracted from HealthMap.
A total of 179 health reports were captured from various sources including newspapers, inter-government agency bulletins, individual reports, and trade websites, yielding 108 (60%) unique articles. Human health events were reported most often (n = 85; 79%), followed by animal health events (n = 23; 21%), with no reports focused solely on environmental health.
By expanding event coverage across all of the health sectors, media in developing countries could play a crucial role in national risk communication efforts and could enhance early warning systems for disasters and disease outbreaks.
传统媒体和互联网是健康信息的重要来源。媒体能够显著地塑造公众舆论、知识以及对新出现和地方性健康威胁的理解。随着数字通信迅速发展,本地健康信息的获取和传播对全球疾病检测和报告做出了重大贡献。
利用HealthMap(一个全球在线疾病监测和绘图工具),从“同一健康”视角对尼泊尔(2013年10月至2014年12月)的健康事件报告进行分析,以描述尼泊尔的媒体环境。从HealthMap中提取事件变量(地点、媒体来源类型、感兴趣的疾病或风险因素以及受影响的物种)。
从包括报纸、政府间机构公告、个人报告和贸易网站等各种来源共获取了179份健康报告,得到108篇(60%)独特的文章。人类健康事件报道最为频繁(n = 85;79%),其次是动物健康事件(n = 23;21%),没有报告仅关注环境卫生。
通过扩大对所有健康部门事件的报道范围,发展中国家的媒体在国家风险沟通工作中可以发挥关键作用,并可加强灾害和疾病暴发的早期预警系统。