Health communication is of significance for public health since it allows medical professionals to share essential findings regarding diseases, preventive measures, treatment, and others. The Covid-19 pandemic is the most recent example to demonstrate the application of health communication. According to Finset et al. (2020), the phenomenon under analysis helps societies manage the uncertain environment, promote behavior changes among people, and reach better health outcomes. Such positive results are present if health communication meets specific features and characteristics. They are accuracy, availability, consistency, competence, reliability, scientific grounding, and others (Unite for Sight, n.d.). I think that health communication should be available and evidence-based. These two features are more significant than others because they ensure that the data are supported with scientific evidence and the target audience can quickly and timely access them.
There is an evident connection between human health and the natural environment because a clean environment provides living creatures with basic needs, including water, air, and land for production purposes. The European Environment Agency (2020) admits that this strategy results in the loss of biodiversity, climate change, polluted air and water, land degradation, and others. One should state that human activities lead to the given state of affairs. For example, people’s increasing use of resources is the leading cause of deforestation across the globe, bringing adverse consequences. On the one hand, deforestation leads to the greenhouse effect because less oxygen is produced. On the other hand, this process subjects people to many infectious diseases. Zimmer (2019) explains that deforestation activities made certain mosquito species migrate to Brazil and spread malaria across the country. The single example demonstrates that human activities can bring harmful outcomes to the planet.
References
European Environment Agency. (2020). Environment and health.Â
Finset, A., Bosworth, H., Butow, P., Gulbrandsen, P, Hulsman, R. L., Pieterse, A. H., Street, R., Tschoetschel, R., & van Weert, J. (2020). Effective health communication – A key factor in fighting the Covid-19 pandemic. Patient Education and Counseling, 103(5), 873-876.
Unite for Sight. (n.d.). Module 1: Health communication strategies.Â
Zimmer, K. (2019). Deforestation is leading to more infectious diseases in humans. National Geographic.