Foundations and Future Directions of Global Health Communication

Globally, lack of equitable access to easy-to-understand health information leaves many people poorly equipped to understand their health—and vulnerable to misinformation. In response to this need, health communication specialists must develop innovative, theory-driven approaches to engaging diverse populations with compelling messages. As we develop our approaches to health communication, we must address the needs of our audience, taking into account their education, language, literacy level, or cultural affiliations. If our goal is to reach the broadest spectrum of people worldwide, the guiding question for anyone designing global health messages should be: How do we make science-based health messages accessible to diverse, global audiences, some of whom rarely seek out health information through traditional public health platforms? In this chapter, we will explore the need for global health communication, some basic theoretical foundations of health communication, and recent innovations in this arena. We hope you will feel our passion for this exciting field and consider building it into your career. Helping our fellow global citizens to be engaged and informed participants in the care of their health is a critical step towards improving health outcomes. This is the primary goal of effective global health communication.