Effective science communication, especially when engaging with genuine two-way discussions with audiences, is quite a complex issue, and far from simple to study. Much of what works and what doesn’t is highly dependent on contingent factors, from what specifically is being communicated, to the social dynamics around the issues, to the political context in which the engagement occurs. This makes deriving general insights and lessons that can be applied across the board particularly challenging.
Ilaria Capua, as director of the One Health Excellence Centre at the Emerging Pathogens Institute of the University of Florida, USA, is very busy in coordinating interdisciplinary research, facing the epidemic of zika virus disease spreading in South America and the Caribbean and reaching Florida. Scientists are testing new diagnostic tests and working on vaccines, but the risk of serious birth defects in the offspring of infected pregnant women calls also for responsible procreative choices, involving lawmakers, governments and religious leaders as well.
An increasing perception of the importance of gender differences is moving scientists to study these aspects in the different branches of medicine. In immunology, for example, a new awareness is emerging that women and men’s defences do not react to infections and vaccines in the same way. Katie Flanagan, senior lecturer of the Department of Immunology at Monash University, in Melbourne, Australia, tells ASSET what is the state-of-the-art knowledge and evidence in this field so far.
“You cannot use old categories to solve new problems”. Piero Bassetti, president of the Giannino Bassetti Foundation, has been one of the pioneers of the idea of Responsible Research and Innovation in Italy. He started talking about these issues many years before they became central in Science-with-and-for-Society policy at a European level. In this interview, he tells us how things have changed ever since.
Human rights are at the very core of EU democracy. With the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty in 2009, the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU became legally binding and the EU acceded to the European Convention on Human Rights.
In the wake of the 2009-2010 H1N1-pandemic, also known as the swine flu, a web of mistrust between the public and health authorities was spun. National pandemic plans were usually based on a single scenario that was more severe than the actual 2009 pandemic, and that was extrapolated from the severity of previous outbreaks like SARS and Avian flu. In effect the 2009 pandemic was nicknamed the false-pandemic or ‘the pandemic there never was’. However, national health authorities had declared a pandemic and bought vaccines for billions.
An example of population consultation project was started recently by the French Ministry of Health, Marisol Touraine, who intends to consult the population on the matter of mandatory vaccination, as a part of a wide-ranging review of immunisation policies. This initiative comes after a report confirmed that vaccination is a sensitive society issue, which needs a large consultation of all stakeholders, including the civil society, with the aim of engaging them in a discussion about immunisation and its importance to public health.
