Climate Change Needs to Be Communicated as an Urgent Public Health Threat—Scoping Review for Best Practices for Communicating Messages About Climate Change to the Public

Context/Purpose: Climate change is the greatest global health threat of the twenty-first century. In spite of decades of climate change research, its effect on health has only recently become more discussed. Public health communication could play an important role in supporting action to adapt to and manage climate change. Yet, there is a gap in evidence about the best practices in public health communication messages on climate change. Methods: We conducted a scoping review for the published literature during 2000 through 2021, where a total of 13 articles were identified. The results were presented in two steps: Step (1) in form of three categories: “What worked?”, “What did not work?”, and “What is promising?”; Step (2) A synthesis for the findings were made, using content analysis. The current evidence described the different challenges faced in the field of communicating climate change to the public. Results: A total of 13/511 articles were identified and included in the final search. The list of recommendations included: (1) Inform the public, in a brief, simple, and consistent way, about the risks associated with climate change; (2) Use narratives stories, with visuals, instead of didactic stories; (3) Frame climate change as an urgent health issue, especially for the short-term; (4) Provide practical solutions when communicating climate change associated risks; (5) Build collaboration across different sectors, and operate locally, by leveraging the existing communication strategies; (6) Be active in using the Internet and social media to inform the public about the importance of climate change, as a health issue; (7) Frame the messages according to the different social segments (e.g., liberals, alarmists, mainstream population, optimists, rights), using their narrative, and (8) Populations that are vulnerable to the health effects of climate change, can benefit from the communication materials. Interpretation: The messages need to be specific in terms of explaining what indicator is used to assess climate change (e.g., extreme weather events, CO2 emission, or other) and how this change is linked to public health. Conclusion: The development and implementation of effective communication materials regarding the health outcomes of climate change that are field-tested and evaluated in multiple programs will help significantly toward achieving an understanding among different parts of the population of the necessity to take action to adapt to and manage climate change, thereby contributing to mitigating its effects.