IANPHI Launches Member-Only Communications Discussion Group
An IANPHI member-only Communications Discussion Group has been launched to foster peer-to-peer collaboration among member communications teams, share successes and challenges and network with peers.
The group’s first meeting was held virtually on October 28, 2020 with 13 participants. IANPHI’s communications director, Andisheh Nouraee, and communications specialist, Marie Deveaux, introduced the IANPHI communications channels, which can help relay member content to a global public health audience. The channels include the IANPHI website, the IANPHI Insider newsletter, IANPHI’s social media accounts and webinars.
The subsequent group discussion focused on communications training needs expressed by participants that IANPHI may help with, either by providing direct training or helping to arrange peer-to-peer support between IANPHI member institutes. Training needs identified by participants included measuring the effectiveness of campaigns and communicating with the media. Members also expressed an interest in sharing examples of successful campaigns in low- and middle-income countries and success stories in reaching vulnerable groups through audio and radio campaigns.
The group is intended to be a resource for its participants, rather than a new responsibility. The informal conversational aspect of the discussion group intends to develop relationships between IANPHI members via chat, and not rely solely on meetings. The group chat first started on WhatsApp and is now transitioning to Microsoft Teams, which offers more functionalities to serve the group’s purposes.
The IANPHI Communications Discussion Group’s inaugural member institutes include:
- Bangladesh’s Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control & Research
- Belgium Sciensano
- Burkina Faso’s Institut National de Santé Publique
- Caribbean Public Health Agency
- Georgia National Center for Disease Control and Public Health
- Germany Federal Center for Health Education
- Italy’s Istituto Superiore di Sanità
- Morocco’s Institut Pasteur
- The Netherlands’ National Institute for Public Health and the Environment
- Nigeria Centre for Disease Control
- South Africa’s National Institute for Communicable Diseases
- National Health Institute of Tunisia
- Public Health Wales
If you are interested in having your institute’s communications lead join the Communications Discussion Group, please contact IANPHI at info@ianphi.org.