Media advocacy plan for controlling tuberculosis
It is fair to say that the activities of public health workers and programs remain a mystery to the general public. Therefore, any public health organization needs to communicate clearly with the public on at least two issues: 1) explaining prevention and its meaning in population approaches to health, and 2) drawing attention to particular threats to health, such as tuberculosis (TB). Successful communications will have two distinct benefits. First, they will warn and inform individuals about how to avoid dangers to their own health. Second, and perhaps more important in the long run, successful communications will help the public understand why sufficient resources are needed if health organizations are to keep infectious diseases in check.
For this project we developed a media advocacy plan to assist those working in California to control TB. To do this, BMSG first analyzed prior news coverage of TB and materials previously used on World Stop Tuberculosis Day. The plan incorporated lessons from those analyses with the practice of media advocacy so those fighting TB had a plan for communicating with the public annually, in non-outbreak situations, and when the next TB outbreak occurred.