The recent launch of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) 2009 Flu Prevention Public Service Announcement (PSA) Contest reminded us how important a role health and risk communications play in responding to outbreaks and preventing the spread of infectious diseases. For those who haven’t heard about the PSA contest, HHS has invited the public to create a video PSA with a message about preventing or dealing with the flu and to post it on YouTube. The winner will be eligible to win a $2,500 cash prize.

This video contest is only one small piece of a much larger effort by HHS and CDC to prevent the spread of flu, both H1N1 and seasonal, and to reduce its impact on populations. This outbreak response, however, is fundamentally different from responses to previous outbreaks. Not only is outbreak of the novel H1N1 virus the first pandemic of the 21^st century, it also represents the first time that the federal government has fully employed 21^st century communication technology as part of a major outbreak response.

For the first time, CDC has combined our traditional communication strategies through our website, traditional media, and partners, with extensive outreach and communication through new media and social networks. To date, millions of people have accessed CDC’s H1N1 information and updates through social media channels — including YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, widgets, and through their mobile browser at m.cdc.gov — which has increased the reach of our information well beyond where it has ever gone before.

The high levels of interest and traffic on CDC’s website and social media outlets during this pandemic response highlight the important role that health and risk communications play in responding to public health emergencies, as well as the growing role of social media tools as part of public health responses. The data below are through July 13, 2009:

• The CDC’s H1N1 webpages have been viewed more than 85 million times since the outbreak began, and more than 200,000 users have signed up to receive CDC’s H1N1 Flu email updates.
• CDC.gov’s H1N1 content has been syndicated, or repurposed, by public health partners, including state and local health departments and corporations, more than 136,000 times.
• I’ve written before about the tremendous importance of mobile for 21^st century public health, and this outbreak is no exception. The H1N1 content on CDC’s mobile site, m.cdc.gov, has been viewed over 61,000 times.
• Our audio and video tools have been extremely popular. The 15 online videos that CDC has posted so far on YouTube have been viewed more than 1.8 million times, and CDC-TV, CDC’s online video sharing site, has had more than 100, 000 views of its H1N1 content. 
• CDC’s audio and video podcasts on H1N1, which include podcasts in Spanish and podcasts for kids, have been downloaded more than 636,000 times. 
• The CDC’s H1N1 widgets have more than 3 million views, and we have had more than 46,000 “click-throughs” from H1N1 buttons. 
• Twitter has reached hundreds of thousands of users. CDC’s Twitter accounts have more than 542,000 followers, and we have had more than 399,000 “click-throughs” from H1N1 flu tweets. 

National and international media and experts have taken notice of CDC’s health and risk communication activities during the pandemic, and I would like to highlight several articles and blogs that profile CDC’s response to this outbreak.  

Nature - Between a virus and a hard place
“To their credit, the WHO and the CDC have avoided the kind of falsely reassuring officialese that has too often accompanied past crises.” more 

Washington Post - Feds Go Online to Brief Masses about Swine Flu
“…as news about the epidemic has burned up all corners of the Web, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Department of Health and Human Services have been using Twitter and YouTube, among other sites, to disseminate information…” more   

USA Today - Pandemics in the age of Twitter
“If the Obama presidential campaign was the first Web 2.0 campaign, this may be the first Web 2.0 global health issue.” more 

National Public Radio - Government Looks Online To Spread Word On Flu
“…references to swine flu in the blogosphere are far surpassing the actual spread of the virus itself. As the government tries to get in front of the rapid spread of information, it’s learning some important lessons about how social media is used in crisis situations…” more 

Nielsen Wire - Swine Flu as Social Media Epidemic; CDC Tweets Calmly
“…the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) is leveraging several different online channels to provide a voice of reason in the fury of discussion around swine flu - and in the process is setting a roadmap for those wondering how social media can be used for crisis communication…” more

Atlanta Journal and Constitution – Social media spreads word on flu 

“…the National Center for Health Marketing has pushed out Twitter feeds, a Flickr photo stream, podcasts, videos and a Facebook page. It has been a 24/7 effort to get important messages out through every medium…” more

Government Computer Network - Agencies tap online channels to spread the word on swine flu outbreak
“…new tools being used to take information to the people include pages on social-networking sites, YouTube, Twitter, RSS feeds, podcasts, widgets for linking to CDC content on third-party Web sites and blogs, and a series of informational e-cards that people can send to friends. The agency also is using some old-school techniques, such as e-mail alerts…” more 

Like every public health emergency response, the health and risk communication work at CDC has been a team effort involving health and risk communication experts from the Joint Information Center, the Division of Media Relations, the National Center for Health Marketing, the Influenza Division, the Office of Enterprise Communication, and many other parts of the agency. I am extremely proud of the outstanding health and risk communication work that CDC has performed so far in this response, and the work we are doing as the pandemic continues through the summer and into the fall. I invite you to share your thoughts and recommendations about our work and your advice on how to make it even more effective. And don’t forget to stay informed and healthy.