public health

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Analyzing recent disaster communications, both successful and failed, can provide important insights for managers and politicians alike when facing the unexpected. diaster box

The hours and days immediately following a profound disaster can shape institutional and political reputations for years to come. Events such as the tragedy of Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines can overwhelm the under-prepared; even country leaders can fall victim to insufficient planning. Lack of preparation can lead to a lacking response to disaster, as leaders scramble to answer the public’s justifiable demand for information and assistance. In recent years, three characteristics of outstanding disaster emergency communications have emerged. [Read more…] about Leadership, Disaster Response and Crisis Communications: Weathering the PR Storm

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Last August, Bloomberg compiled a list of the most efficient healthcare systems around the world.  The ranking took into consideration the healthcare cost per capita, percentage of GDP spent on health care and life expectancy. Researchers looked at data from the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Health Organization (WHO) and Hong Kong’s Department of Health, and gave each country a score out of a 100. Our countdown begins with the top two countries in the Western Hemisphere, followed by the top six overall:

[Read more…] about The World’s Most Efficient Health Care Systems

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Today’s blog comes to us from GLOBALHealthPR partner in Argentina, Paradigma PEL Comunicación.
 

Caught between Frankenstein and an unfathomable labyrinth. That is how many Latin-Americans feel when navigating their country’s health system, explained prominent Argentinean health systems expert Dr. Rubén Torres, former Area Manager of Health Systems based on Primary Health Care of the Pan American Health Organization. (PAHO) during a recent journalist training session in Buenos Aires.

[Read more…] about Frankenstein and the Labyrinth: Common Features of Health Systems in Latin America

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obesity infographicThe evolution of Health 2.0 in our data-driven world calls for a shift in the way health organizations connect with their target audiences. On a global scale, there is enormous potential to make an impact through digital communications tool and technologies. Before making a change, however, it is necessary to understand who is saying what, and where the conversations – or lack thereof – are happening.

[Read more…] about Tackling a Weighty Issue: GLOBALHealthPR Alarmed by Childhood Obesity Findings

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Last week, Frannie Marmorstein and I were thrilled to head up to New York City to attend the PR News Platinum Awards Luncheon. We attended on behalf of Spectrum and GLOBALHealthPR, our partnership of international health care communications specialists, as a finalist in the “Pro Bono” category for our work on The Progeria Research Foundation’s (PRF) “Find the Other 150 Campaign”. And we won! This recognition, among the best of the best in the industry, was an honor for everyone involved in the campaign, and hopefully it will inspire others in the industry to leverage global collaboration for a cause they are passionate about.

For those of you who aren’t familiar with Progeria, it is an extremely rare, rapid aging disease that causes children to age prematurely. Children with Progeria die of heart attacks or strokes at an average age of 13 years, so time is not on our side as we work to identify children around the world.

But this award isn’t the first time an important win has come out of this campaign. Every time a child is identified as a result of the campaign, it’s a win: a win for the child, because he or she will get the unique medical care he or she needs, a win for the child’s family, and a win for PRF, because these children help to advance research toward treatments and the cure for Progeria. We’ve identified 26 to date, a 48% increase in just two years (and 2 more since we submitted our entry for the award)!

We’ve blogged about the “Find the Other 150” campaign before. But the results keep getting better and better. In October 2009, only 54 children living with Progeria had been identified around the world. But experts believed that another 150 children around the world had not yet been identified or diagnosed. GLOBALHealthPR approached PRF about launching a global awareness campaign to search for unidentified children with Progeria. When the campaign began, PRF’s medical director said that if even ONE child was identified, the campaign would be a success. No one expected that we would be so successful so quickly.

So here we are two years and 26 children later (now totaling 80 children around the world with Progeria), and our campaign is going strong. Receiving the PR News Platinum Award at last week’s luncheon was a wonderful reward for our great work. But this campaign is nowhere close to finished. We will continue to work with our GLOBALHealthPR partners until we accomplish what we set out to do – Find the Other 150. And every time a new child is found and gets the support they need, that’s a win for us.