CDC and H1N1: A Case Study for Excellence in Communications

Remember the game "Telephone" in kindergarten where all the kids sit in a circle and the teacher whispers a message into the first child's ear, then he/she whispers it into the next child's ear until the passing of information comes full circle?  The message communicated by the teacher to the first student is completely different than the message that eventually made its way around the circle.

This same phenomenon has happened with the spread of information about the H1N1 virus.  Information available through traditional news media, Twitter and the blogosphere is pervasive, but not always entirely accurate.  This is understandable, because much like the kindergarten game of "Telephone," it is our human nature to distort information as we share it.

Fortunately, there are government agencies like the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) that cut through the abundance of misinformation, providing the public with official H1N1 information.  From the early stages of H1N1 becoming a major health issue through information on prevention and vaccination, the CDC has proactively reached over 190,000 citizens with H1N1-related information on topics such as flu prevention, H1N1 cases and vaccinations.  See CDC's comprehensive online site dedicated to H1N1 here.  To get up-to-date information on H1N1 from CDC, subscribe for alerts here.

From the first time we heard news about a new virus back in April 2009 to today, the CDC has kept us informed all along the way.  For this, we commend the agency's efforts and want to acknowledge its excellence in government-to-citizen communications.