Posts Tagged ‘Ministry of Health’

1. Pondering the swine flu

   Published on Friday, June 19th, 2009
   There are two things I ponder about the swine flu.  Can the precautions we take make any real difference?  How long will our media sustain the almost-hourly case count, particularly as later today our overburdened health authorities’ switch from their containment strategy to a management strategy?

   Well, actually there is a third question, none of us wants to appear selfish, but if and when we contract this disease, will there be any Tamiflu tablets left?

   To give them credit, our media have made a good fist of passing on to us the handy hints for avoidance and treatment from the Ministry of Health. However the media’s serious interest won’t last.  My cue for this is the Australian media. Victoria has become the swine flu capital of the South Pacific, and it appears they’ve stopped counting long since. Their focus now is on quirky stories like the stir-crazy Australian lacrosse team quarantined in South Korea.

   The media for good or for ill want to take polarizing positions. So one news organisation will run the ‘swine flu’ is overhyped angle and use the not related comparison of  ‘y2k’  as evidence, their competitor will focus on the growing disruptive cost of the flu and its victim count.  Then they’ll swap angles until they get tired.

   It seems that an important frontier of managing this flu is the workplace, and the key to this is clear communications to staff and management about their obligations to their workmates, i.e. keep away if you’ve got flu symptoms.  These messages need to be reinforced, particularly among those segments of the workforce where staying at home may mean being out of work and unpaid.  Maybe such people will have to be cut some slack in the interests of their workmates?

   I don’t think we will all get swine flu, or even 60% of us, if we take care of ourselves and others.

2. The swine flu risk – managing perceptions vs reality

   Published on Wednesday, April 29th, 2009
   When managing communications during a crisis there are numerous challenges.  First and foremost is removal of risk and management of any potential future risks.  To do this those who are potentially affected need to be made aware of the risk posed to them to the extent that they are motivated to take the appropriate action.  At the same time undue scaremongering and mass hysteria must be avoided.

   Within New Zealand there have been many occasions when people have had to be told that they may have a particular life threatening condition.  Think contaminated blood, failed cancer screening and CJD, not to mention medical misadventure.

   An individual’s own sense of vulnerability is based on personal experiences in the same way that past events in a country influences that nation’s response to future risk scenarios.  Take the UK for example.  With deaths due to salmonella-contaminated eggs and BSE in beef, their safe food lobby is highly vocal and effective.  They also have high rates of vegetarianism, showing that many consumers have acted, at least partly, as a result of such scares.

   Fast forward to the current swine flu pandemic alert and the response has been swift and of the highest profile.  The Ministry of Health, District Health Boards and other health agencies are to be commended on how they have responded and managed the issue.  As are our media.  Prior to the confirmation of swine flu there were some suggestions of a media set up, but we now know the response was justified.

   In times of crisis the relationship between the media and information authorities is of utmost importance.  Authorities were initially highly dependent on the media to attract the interest of the people they were trying to trace from limited flight arrival card information, and the media delivered on this responsibility.

   Allaying fears, and assuring those that get the sniffles who haven’t travelled to Mexico or the US in the last week don’t panic, continues to be an important task of the media.

   It’s great to see this crucial relationship working well in New Zealand – long may it continue.

   What’s your view?