Science is getting out of laboratories and reaching the general public. That is, we are moving from the only goal of bringing Science-in-society, adding that of bringing Society-in-science: for years researchers have been blamed for living in their ivory towers, and asked to learn how to talk to common people, explaining their work and influencing policies and behaviours; now common people are stepping into science, giving their own support to a common cause.
Communication is not merely a matter of passing information from one person to another. Just as important as the message itself is how the message is formulated, and who are the parties involved. This is particularly true in case of an infectious diseases outbreak, when proper risk communication can really make the difference in terms of number of lives saved.
On June 3rd, the European Commission rejected the Stop Vivisection Initiative, which asked to abrogate Directive 2010/63/EU1 on the protection of animals used for scientific purposes and to put forward a new proposal aimed at phasing out the practice of animal experimentation, making compulsory the use - in biomedical and toxicological research - of data directly relevant for the human species.
An infectious diseases specialist in London, Geraldine O’Hara spent two months in Sierra Leone with Médecins sans Frontières last year, at the peak of the Ebola crisis. While working in an Ebola treatment centre, she was asked to share her experience on Radio 4, a national radio station in UK. We met her at the International Journalism Festival in Perugia, where she told us about how she learnt such a new job and how she realized that real-life stories might greatly improve science communication.
The report published in March 2015 by Medecins sans frontières speaks out clearly against the “global coalition of inaction” and the “vacuum of leadership” in the Ebola crisis in West Africa. Those who were struggling in the field against a huge and out-of-control emergency, without the necessary resources, list the main causes of such a situation: lack of political will, inexperience, and, sometimes, simply fear.
Recognize and respect fear. This is one of the main lessons Ron Klain claims to have learned by his efforts against Ebola. Klain has recently served as the first White House Ebola Response Coordinator, also known as the Ebola Czar. From such a high position, he got a close and deep insight into the dramatic threat to global health represented by the West Africa outbreak.
The recent terror attack in Paris has raised the fear in Europe, but the threat regards many countries all over the world. While the French drama was on, in Nigeria more than 2,000 people were killed and in the following days children were loaded with bombs and used as living weapons in the crowd. It is then clear that terrorist groups currently menacing the world have no scruples in using any kind of weapons. In this scenario, even a biological attack is an option that cannot be excluded.
