Welcome to WHCA Online

Our aim is to use this platform both to keep you informed about our activities and as a resource for health and environment communicators.

 

Fifth Ministerial Conference on Environment and Health, Parma, Italy, 10-12 March 2010

The health impacts of environmental risk factors - inadequate water and sanitation, unsafe home and recreational environments, lack of spatial planning for physical activity, indoor and outdoor air pollution, and hazardous chemicals - are amplified by recent developments such as financial constraints, broader socioeconomic and gender inequalities and more frequent extreme climate events. They pose new challenges for health systems to reduce deaths and diseases through effective environmental health interventions. [...read more]

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NEW!! Health Literacy Guide, Part 2 NEW!!

The World Health Communication Associates (WHCA) Action Guide on Health Literacy introduces a new interactive action framework for strengthening individual and societal health literacy. Health literacy is defined as “the capacity to obtain, interpret and understand basic health information and services and the competence to use such information and services to enhance health.” The guide’s primary aim is to be a “how to” manual. To this end it presents case study examples of practical interventions that people and agencies in a wide variety of settings are taking (and can take) to enhance their own and other’s health literacy. The actions described not only focus on individual behaviour changes but also look at initiatives being taken to strengthen and adjust systems in order to address institutional and structural deterrents to health literacy, make information more accessible and understandable, and make navigation easier.

[Click on the covers of the books to download them in PDF]

The Guide development team has included:

  • Franklin Apfel, MD, MHS, WHCA Managing Director
  • Ruth M Parker, MD, Professor of Medicine, Emory University School of Medicine
  • Kara L Jacobson, MPH, CHES, Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University
  • Julia Taylor, Director, WHO Healthy Cities Programme, Liverpool
  • Tony Boyle, Neighbourhood Public Health Manager, Liverpool Primary Health Care Trust
  • Joanna Groves, CEO, International Alliance of Patients’ Organizations
  • Jeremiah Mwangi, Senior Policy Officer, International Alliance of Patients’ Organizations
  • Scott Ratzan, MD, Vice President Global Health, Johnson & Johnson

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WHCA holds the secretariat of the World Health Editors Network (WHEN). This important initiative in health communication is active on several fronts.  Full reports, with video and presentation downloads, can be seen under the WHEN link.