Health literacy and good communication skills are extremely important to crisis and other types of health communications. Public health professionals need to be able to effectively communicate audience appropriate information on what is known and what actions should be taken for prevention and control. Effective communication of public health information takes practice. This Assignment will introduce you to the National Institutes of Health Clear Communication program whose objective is to provide health information to the public in a form that is clear and understandable to the target audience. Your Instructor will provide you with two handouts intended to visually communicate information regarding a specific health risk. Review the NIH Clear Communication website including the pages on Health Literacy, Clear & Simple, Cultural Respect, and Plain Language. Evaluate each handout separately using the concepts related to Health Literacy, Clear & Simple, Cultural Respect and Plain Language from the NIH Clear Communication website. Discuss the results. Which handout is more effective at communicating the intended message and why? How would you revise the other handout to make it a more effective communication tool?
