Writes Nalaka Gunawardene

Can good communications help combat swine flu? This is the question I ask - and try to answer - in my latest op ed essay, just published by MediaChannel.org at:
http://www.mediachannel.org/wordpress/2009/05/05/good-communications-to-...

Here's an excerpt:

Flu shots, quarantine measures and hospital care alone cannot counter the current flu outbreak. While medical doctors and researchers spearhead the public health response, we need the mass media and other communicators to mount the public awareness response. Ideally, they should reinforce each other.

For the first time in history, we now have the technological means to quickly reach out to most of humanity. More than four billion mobile phones are in use, a majority of them in the developing world. Nearly a quarter of the world population (over 1.5 billion people) have access to the web, even if at varying levels of bandwidth. Thousands of radio and TV channels saturate the airwaves ˆ these still are the primary source of news and information for billions.

Can these information and communication technologies (ICTs) help disseminate the right kind of flu awareness? How fast can we mobilise 24/7 media outlets and telecom networks to inspire preventive and curative action? What can the blogging, texting and twittering new media activists do in such efforts?

Read the full essay at MediaChannel.org
http://www.mediachannel.org/wordpress/2009/05/05/good-communications-to-...

Read a related blog post on my Moving Images blog:
TV playing nanny: How Asian broadcasters helped fight SARS
http://movingimages.wordpress.com/2009/05/01/tv-playing-nanny-how-asian-...