FestiCom Santé: two days to review health communication processes

After the Francophone Health Communication Week last February, the Health Communication Festivalof which we are partners, meets in Deauville on March 30 and 31 for a series of debates, conferences… but also pitches, which will conclude with an award ceremony at the end of the event. More than 500 people are expected on site… knowing that the meeting, which is intended to be French-speaking, will also be accessible remotely. Actors and communicators in health from more than 30 countries will thus be able to follow the exchanges. Dominique Noël and Eric Phélippeau, respectively President and Vice-President of the Festival, take stock with us, a few days before the firing.

How did you design the program for the 32^th edition of Francophone health communication festival and what is its red thread?

Dominique Noel: This year, the theme of the Festival is “health and its communication processes”. We do indeed have many tools for communicating but no doubt it will be necessary, in the future, to communicate differently and better, while around 13 million French people are still affected by illiteracy, while the areas poorly served by mobile networks and the internet, that the “infox” are multiplying on social networks…

The challenge, on March 30 and 31, will therefore be to take stock of trends, developments and innovations in the means of health communication in order to identify the most efficient possible ones: what type of content, on what type of media, in what types of media, for which target audiences. And this, with a public health objective, so that quality, clear and reliable information is accessible to the people who need it.

Eric Phélippeau : This “putting into perspective”, initiated during Francophone Health Communication Week from February 6 to 9, 2023, will be carried out through a series of speed visions, interviews and round tables, entitled “Communication process: the failure sun prevention campaigns? “, “New paths — and new voices — in the educational curriculum of health professionals”, or “Media: health communication under pressure”.

The opportunity for patients, companies, health professionals, institutions and journalists present to question the effectiveness, or not, of the processes through which we communicate in health today. We will also have an overview of what is happening in Belgium, with the intervention of a director of the Personal Assistance Department of a mutual insurance company, for example.

Climate change will also be on the program, in the presence, in particular, of Dr Sylvie Briand, Director of the Infectious Risk Management (IHM) department within the WHO health emergency management program?

Dominique Noel: Information and training on entanglement climate-health are indeed crucial to face the challenges ahead. Health actors can collectively be major contributors and ambassadors of the changes to be initiated.

Hence the challenge of thinking regarding the most appropriate communication processes to raise awareness of the risks associated with the rise in the level of oceans and its acidification, the disappearance of biodiversitythe resurgence and changes in the living areas of infectious disease vectors responsible for the emergence of zoonosesthe increase in extreme weather events, etc.

Can you already tell us more regarding the “most adequate health communication processes”?

Eric Phelippeau : Some, in favor of all-digital, will tell you that the future is in digital. However, at the beginning of this interview, we underlined its limits. This is the reason why we propose to “reset everything” to review the “historical” communication processes as well as the most recent ones.

Among them are, for example, the podcasts. At the same time media of testimonials, information and training, they constitute a process of communication which amplifies and makes meet the various actors of the ecosystem of health (enthusiasts, health professionals, patients, establishments of care , companies or associations, etc.). We are also very pleased to have highlighted this development through the first Francophone Health Podcast prize, created in partnership with MedShake Studio, whose winners were announced last February.

Dominica Noel : Other developments in health communication will no doubt come out during the pitches, scheduled for Thursday followingnoon. The candidates will present their recent health communication campaign in front of a jury for 8 to 10 minutes (followed by 5 to 6 minutes of questions and answers), in more than 10 communication award categories (French speaking international communication award or Communication Learned Society, Patient Associations, Pharmaceutical Laboratories, Local Authorities, etc.).

It should be noted that, this year, a “Start-ups and Scale-ups Prize” is also offered. The latter will be able to pitch on their project but also on their dynamics of communication and media coverage of their own idea. The Prizes will be awarded to the winners on Friday evening!

Consult the complete program of the Festival de la communication en santé