Good morning.
Let me begin my remarks with warm congratulations to Dr Dinh Anh and his team for their hard work in drafting the master plan on health risk communication, 2020–2025.
At first, the intention was rather simple. We planned to cover health security and emergencies only, following recommendations from the 2016 joint external evaluation of the International Health Regulations core capacity.
It was then expanded to also cover other communicable diseases, as well as noncommunicable diseases – comprehensive enough to reflect Viet Nam’s current public health contexts and priorities.
We went through long discussion and made tough decisions. I think everyone will agree that the process of developing the master plan has not been easy. But we have made it this far. We now have an almost final action plan to advance the country’s capacity to communicate risks. The master plan now has a wide technical scope that transcends a single department's terms of reference. This is a milestone for Viet Nam's public health management.
Congratulations again.
As we are gathered today to deliberate on the proposed contents of the master plan, let me briefly touch upon my reflections and comment.
This draft action plan is a comprehensive one, which encompasses communication for advocacy, communication for behavioural change and risk communication.
Though each of these components has different characteristics, there are several commonalities. They aim to go beyond simple information sharing and awareness raising. Conventional way of communication – ad hoc basis approach will not serve the purpose.
First, you need to build a system for effective communication. It should be able to perform research to analyse the problem, target audiences, etc. It should be able to develop a communication plan with clear targets to achieve. It should be able to generate messages which are concise, persuasive, and easy to present and understand. It should be able to select appropriate communication channels.
Second, the success of this master plan will count on shared vision and cooperation. While the Department of Communication and Reward will lead the implementation of this action plan, its success requires the cooperation of other Ministry of Health departments and agencies. It is essential that our actions are coordinated, and we count on departmental leaderships – some currently with us here – to make this possible.
Third, in an era when information travels in the most efficient manner – in the age of 5G Internet connection, social media and fake news – we need to work even faster. We need to strengthen a system that will allow us to manage the process of communicating risks for all phases of public health management. We need to communicate with the public in a timely, sufficient and appropriate manner.
Fourth, we need to further invest in building a strong risk communication system. For this, we bank on the master plan's finalization and consequent implementation, which we will all become a part of.
As a final note, allow me to share with you an interesting quote from the Nobel Prize and award-winning Irish playwright, Mr George Bernard Shaw: The single biggest problem with communication is the illusion that it has taken place.
The challenge for us is to ensure that communication is indeed taking place. Let the master plan on health risk communication serve as a tool for us to ensure that effective health risk communication is taking place.
We look forward to fruitful discussions and a productive workshop.
Xin cam on.