Influenza communication campaign Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Influenza communication campaign - Essay Example The biggest challenge that health agencies and the government face is the sustaining of alertness and awareness among the public over the particular period that the pandemic is in session. The response to this challenge and others that are posed by the management of risks emanating from unfamiliar health hazards calls for the recognition that the process of promoting this sustenance not only involves ensuring that the information gotten is right but also making sure that the mode of communication of this information is one that incorporates and accommodates diversities that are present in the community’s needs, expectations and characteristics (Ratzan 2012 p. 21).This is why various communication campaigns have been formulated to act as a platform through which the public can be educated about the dangers of pandemics and the methods of coping with them.The campaign that I am to describe took pace in West Virginia several months ago. This was a vaccination campaign conducted i n West Virginia, a state in United States of America. It was composed of audiences and audience segments. The audiences shared some similarities as well as differences and the campaign team conducted several studies to understand the nature of the audience. The most effective way to segment is by use of psychographic and cultural variables. The audiences targeted by the campaign were told that they were not going to be passive who just receive the messages but an active audience able to participate. The team also planned to understand incentives that motivated the audience to participate in the program. It also went ahead to find out the challenges that prevented people who were willing not to participate. There were specific audiences targeted by this campaign which included; parents who had children less than 18 years and younger because they have the power to convince their children to participate. The parents have the responsibility of ensuring that that all their children up to the age of 18 years are protected through vaccination. Others included adults who are healthy who have not yet been infected with the flu and so by vaccinating them, ensures that they are protected. Adults suffering from chronic health conditions such as HIV/AIDS, diabetes, cancer and other diseases are also a target group. A person lives with such diseases for lifetime is a vulnerable group given that their immunity is very low and so the body cannot protect itself from an infection. Expectant women especially those in their late pregnancies that above four months are at risk for their immunity is also low. Those people who live with people at risk such as the health care workers or home caregivers given t hat they live with those who are already affected by the disease and so are more exposed than any other group outside (Ratzan 2012 p. 37). People from minority groups for instance, African Americans who are less privileged in terms of resource allocation and health care services. These are the people groups who are normally neglected and when there is an outbreak of a disease, it takes a long time for them to access health care service centres. The message was to inform people that there is an outbreak of the vaccine in their community and this helped to raise awareness among the community members of a disease, which was not common in the area, and they became alert and cautious enough and got prepared to take precautionary measures. Another thing was to let the public know that there was enough vaccine for all community members that are free of charge. There is