A health promotion approach to emergency management: effective community engagement strategies from five cases.

Community engagement is crucial for controlling disease outbreak and mitigating natural and industrial disasters. The COVID-19 pandemic has reconfirmed the need to elevate community engagement to build equity, trust and sustained action in future health promotion preparedness strategies. Using the health promotion strategy of strengthening community action enhances the opportunity for better outcomes. There is, therefore, a need to improve our understanding of community engagement practices during crises, scale-up good community engagement initiatives, and improve and sustain people-centered approaches to emergency responses. This paper presents five case studies from the United States, Singapore, Sierra Leone, Kenya and South Africa that demonstrate the potential strengths that can be nurtured to build resilience in local communities to help mitigate the impact of disasters and emergencies. The case studies highlight the importance of co-developing relevant education and communication strategies, amplifying the role of community leaders, empowering community members to achieve shared goals, assessing and adapting to changing contexts, pre-planning and readiness for future emergencies and acknowledgement of historic context.

Health literacy as a social vaccine in the COVID-19 pandemic.

The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is a novel virus in the coronavirus family, causing the coronavirus disease (COVID-19). Biomedical vaccines are key but alongside biomedical vaccines, a social vaccine can be similarly useful to prevent infection from SARS-CoV-2, if applied as a health promotion strategy. In order to slow down and control the spread of SARS-CoV-2, applying the social vaccine concept should be considered in parallel. From a health promotion perspective, a social vaccine is a process of social and political mobilization driven by governmental and non-governmental organizations aiming at populations by applying interventions such as health communication, education and mass media campaigns as well as determinant-based programs to address environmental factors influencing personal behavior and community capacities to cope with and overcome the societal burdens of COVID-19. In this context, health literacy is significant, as seen in the role it plays in empowering citizens during the COVID-19 pandemic and enabling them to deal with health information considering COVID-19. As a public health strategy, health literacy as a social vaccine will enable individuals and communities to mitigate the spread of the virus by understanding and applying information as provided through governments and health authorities. The aim of this article is to explore health literacy as a promising social vaccine and opportunity to utilize social vaccination and thus be considered as a key public health approach-both bottom-up and top-down-to support the combat of COVID-19 and future states of emergency.

Health promotion preparedness for health crises - a 'must' or 'nice to have'? Case studies and global lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic.

The current COVID-19 pandemic has exposed missing links between health promotion and national/global health emergency policies. In response, health promotion initiatives were urgently developed and applied around the world. A selection of case studies from five countries, based on the Socio-Ecological Model of Health Promotion, exemplify 'real-world' action and challenges for health promotion intervention, research, and policy during the COVID-19 pandemic. Interventions range from a focus on individuals/families, organizations, communities and in healthcare, public health, education and media systems, health-promoting settings, and policy. Lessons learned highlight the need for emphasizing equity, trust, systems approach, and sustained action in future health promotion preparedness strategies. Challenges and opportunities are highlighted regarding the need for rapid response, clear communication based on health literacy, and collaboration across countries, disciplines, and health and education systems for meaningful solutions to global health crises.

Rebranding social distancing to physical distancing: calling for a change in the health promotion vocabulary to enhance clear communication during a pandemic.

Amidst the COVID-19 outbreak, the term 'social distancing' received immense attention in the mainstream and social media and was embraced by governments as a universal precaution to stem the coronavirus pandemic. 'Social distancing' belongs technically to a set of non-pharmaceutical infection control actions intended to stop or slow down the spread of a contagious disease. However, several weeks into the outbreak, scholars discussed whether the term was, in fact, misleading and could be counterproductive. To study the arguments, the study design included (1) analysis of the performance of the concepts 'social distancing' and 'physical distancing' based on Google Trends (15 February-15 June 2020); (2) analysis of the arguments used in media discussions of 'social distancing versus physical distancing' in the period 15 March-15 April 2020, derived from a Google search; and (3) a scientific literature review in PubMed. The study was conducted in English. The trend analysis showed the peak and the decrease of the relative popularity of 'social distancing' and 'physical distancing' during spring 2020. The thematic analysis of Google sources yielded an overview of arguments based on nine themes with two to five sub-themes reflecting on the misleading concept, the historical perspective, the sociological perspective, the public health perspective, alternative proposals regarding the social and the physical dimensions, the distinction of terms, the political choice, and the need for rebranding. Two papers were included in the scientific literature review, which both stressed the need for a change of terminology. In conclusion, the study emphasizes that the choice of terminology matters when life-saving public health messages are designed. It is therefore recommended to rebrand 'social distancing' to 'physical distancing' to enhance clear communication during the current COVID-19 pandemic in order to prepare for future pandemics.