The excess of health information, false or not very rigorous in many cases, during the Covid-19 pandemic led the World Health Organization (WHO) to popularize the term ‘infodemic’ – from the Anglicism ‘infodemic’, relating to information and epidemic – to draw attention to the need for citizens to be able to find reliable sources and guidance to avoid the spread of rumors on a topic of public interest. Four years later, more than 450 professionals from health institutions, doctors and researchers and journalists from around the world, among others, gathered in Barcelona on October 24 and 25 within the framework of the 1st International Communication Congress in Health, organized by the Vall d’Hebron University Hospital with the support of the European University Hospital Alliance (EUHA) and the collaboration of Medtronic. Issues such as the communication of health policies, the relationship between health institutions and their professionals with the media and journalists, the creation of new stories and stories, ‘fake news’, the role of Artificial Intelligence, communication crises or the role of patients in the dissemination of content have been the subject of analysis. “Beyond the success of participation, the 1st International Congress on Health Communication has allowed us to establish a framework for debate to delve deeper with a global vision into the main challenges and opportunities facing health communication”reflects Fran Garcia, director of Communication, Corporate Strategy and Citizen Attention: “information about science and medicine is more interesting than ever, we have already won the battle for public attention. Now we have to work to consolidate this congress and increase its international perspective. Providing quality information to citizens, whether through traditional media or social networks, generating dynamic content and putting the patient at the center of the story are just some of the points that have been discussed in these two very productive days. ”adds Fran Garcia.
The conclusions of the 1st International Congress on Health Communication will be used to develop the Health Communication Guide that will be shared with the EUHA. The first day of the congress, on October 24, began with the presence of European, Spanish and Catalan authorities and a first round table focused on government health communication policies, which are increasingly implemented in more complex environments. In this panel, moderated by Fred Balvert, strategic sciences communicator at the Erasmus University Medical Center in Rotterdam, the challenges in the dissemination of national and European health policies, the strategic lines of the different countries, the role of hospitals and what is the most effective way to reach citizens directly, whether through social networks or campaigns. Top-level speakers such as Bhanu Bhatnagar, Head of Press and Media Relations at the Regional Office for Europe of the World Health Organization, Marie-Agnes Heine, Head of the Communication Department of the European Medicines Agency, Chantal Verdonschot, Coordinator senior communications officer at EuroHealthNet, Abraham del Moral, communications director of the Government’s Health Department, and expert Mariachiara Tallacchini, from the University of Piacenza (Italy), contributed their perspectives. They all agreed on the need for institutions to provide scientific knowledge to citizens not as a closed product, but as a process that allows them to reach conclusions on their own. They also highlighted that communication needs to be two-way and that citizens know the existing mechanisms to make their voice heard.
The second round table, moderated by Jens Hjalte Madsen Løgstrup, head of communication at Aarhus University Hospital, analyzed how institutions interact with the media and journalists, a relationship that necessarily has to be fluid in democracy although it is not always be simple. The heads of communication at institutions such as the Hôpitaux de Paris (France) or the Kings’s Health Partners London (United Kingdom) –Isabelle Jourdan and Christie Norris respectively–, as well as Madeleine Svärd, head of communication at the Karolinska Institutet (Sweden), exchanged impressions with journalists from media outlets such as Valeria Roman (Infobae) or Xavi Granda. On the part of the corporate communication experts, emphasis was placed on strategies to make the agility in the information response compatible with offering quality information and preserving the reputation of the institution. Media journalists emphasized the need for transparency and access to experts. The day closed by analyzing marketing campaigns, which create interesting stories to bring health closer to citizens as the protagonist. Every day 50,000 patients enter through the doors of Vall d’Hebron, each of them with a story to discover and explain. Camil Roca, CEO of K1000, the agency responsible for La Marató de TV3, and Roxane Philippe, general director of HAVAS Red Health, also shared the cases that have most touched the hearts of citizens.
On the second day of the congress, the debate began with a round table on how to combat ‘fake news’ in health communication, an area where rigor is essential, but which day by day proves ripe for the spread of false news or exaggerated Carlo Martini, professor of philosophy in health sciences at the Università San Raffaele (Italy), Michele Cantazaro, freelance journalist who collaborates in ‘El Periódico de Catalunya’, among other media; Carlos Mateos, expert in fake news from the ConSalud portal, director of the communication agency COM Salud and coordinator of #SaludsinBulos, Sigrid März, scientific journalist and former editor of MedWatch, and Dr. Javier de Castro, head of Medical Oncology at the University Hospital La Paz (Madrid), emphasized that health and research centers, professionals and scientists have a more important role than ever in the digital era in validating and contrasting health information. Artificial Intelligence, which can be used both to generate ‘fake news’ and to detect it, focused much of the debate. AI starred in an entire thematic block, to the extent that it is already impacting communication strategies and is a tool that serves to better reach potential audiences. In this sense, Laia Morales, AI training consultant and founder of Bexperience, gave a practical workshop.
Speakers from the communication departments of the main European hospitals analyzed communication crises in a round table moderated by Fran Garcia. Maintaining a medium-term vision, despite the urgency of the moment, and never losing sight of the fact that every crisis is an opportunity to demonstrate communication muscle and emerge stronger is essential, the different experts agreed: Lars Elgård, head of relations with the media of Aarhus University Hospital (Denmark), Ann Lemaître, head of press at UZ Leuven (Belgium), Hanna Mellbin, head of strategic communication at Karolinska University Hospital (Sweden), Laia Brufau, director of the Institut Català de la Salut ( ICS), and Oscar Franco, director of public health, UMC Utrecht, Utrecht University, and Adjunct Professor at Harvard University.
The fundamental role of the patient and the citizen as the protagonist of health communication focused the next thematic block, in which the testimony of Audrey Mash stood out, the story of which went around the world after being resuscitated in Vall d’Hebron after six hours of cardiac arrest due to hypothermia. In this thematic block, in which Sarah Neville, Global Health editor of the Financial Times and winner of the 2024 award for the best health journalist in the United Kingdom, also participated, it was highlighted that patients are the best ambassadors of communication in health, since they speak the same language as citizens. At noon, and with the aim of bringing science closer to the attendees, a Meet the Expert session was held, so that attendees could interact directly with some of the speakers and participants in the round tables and workshops.
The patient associations also shared their strategies, in a thematic block that featured the Care Connect experience, which Dr. Olga Simó, coordinator of the Diabetes Technology Unit at the Vall de Hebron Hospital, introduced with the help of Medtronic. At the last table of the congress, a passionate debate was established when talking about what journalists look for and find when they deal with doctors and researchers from health institutions. Some need each other to disseminate and make scientific advances understandable to citizens. Prominent journalists such as Josep Corbella, from ‘La Vanguardia’, Korinna Hennig from NDR Info (Germany) and Géraldine Zamansky (France 59) have met with scientists such as Dr. Josep Tabernero (Vall d’Hebron Barcelona Hospital Campus), Dr. Purvi Parwani, cardiologist at Loma Linda (California, USA) and Judit Balazs, psychiatrist at Eotvos Lorand University, in Budapest (Hungary) that they have to work together with the common goal of improving scientific knowledge of the general population.