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Overcoming Media Reluctance: How a Diverse Messaging Strategy Can Boost Vaccination Advocacy

As the UK grapples with the resurgence of whooping cough, it becomes increasingly important for public health messaging to adopt a nuanced and multi-strategy approach to vaccination appeals. In recent weeks, the UK has witnessed a notable surge in whooping cough cases, a severe infection particularly dangerous to children and pregnant women. Public health messaging has strongly emphasized vaccination as a crucial measure to combat this infection. Naturally, this is the case in the official communication of the UK Health Security Agency. BBC's coverage highlights worrying rise of cases However, a quick examination of the mainstream media coverage reveals what could be described as a hesitancy to include direct vaccination appeals, as can be surmised from a BBC’s report  which emphasized the threatening aspect, and a local news report which highlighted its regional spread . While mentioning a decline in vaccination rates, the coverage avoided direct calls to vaccinate and mere...
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Organ transplants: why so many people are put off donating

Organ transplants: why so many people are put off donating irinabdw/Shutterstock (I'm republishing this article from The Conversation partly as an opportunity to acknowledge the progress that the UK has made towards reducing the number of cases in which families refuse to donate the organs of loved ones after they die. With the consent/authorisation rate going up 2% in 2018/19 to 67%, the country is much closer to the 80% target that would dramatically improve transplant outcomes, per the latest   Organ Donation and Transplantation Activity Report . But there is more work to be done) Gabriel Moreno Esparza , Northumbria University, Newcastle and Stephen Clark , Northumbria University, Newcastle It’s well known that there’s a worldwide shortage of organ donors. More than 100,000 organ transplants have taken place around the world every year since 2008 but this is way below what’s needed . In the UK , for example, fi...
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Rethinking Blood Donation: The Economics, Messaging, and Challenges

Blood transfusion is a critical medical procedure, yet the approach to securing a safe and sufficient blood supply involves complex economic, communicative, and logistical challenges which are difficult to understand when the messaging around it is haunted by catastrophic precedent such as the one that destroyed the lives of thousands in the UK in the 1970s and 1980s.  Reflecting on these aspects reveals the importance of treating blood as a public good , rather than a commodity, central to preventing future crises like the one the news media will abundantly be reflecting when findings from the Infected Blood Inquiry are finally published. The Power of Messaging in Blood Donation Campaigns Effective communication in blood donation campaigns is crucial to ensuring a stable blood supply. Research indicates that the nature of these messages significantly influences public perception and willingness to donate.  Traditional slogans like "Save Lives" are common, but recent studies ...
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