CDC's Efforts to Educate Americans on the H1N1 Flu Virus

Part of the WEGO Health KnowledgeSite

Many health marketing communications professionals serve the needs of patients. However, many times, their voices are missing from conversations about the effectiveness of initiatives marketers launch to educate and inform the public. To remedy this problem, we have partnered with WEGO Health to provide patient perspectives on a variety of marketing communications efforts. Each Health Marketing Campaign Review features the voice of a WEGO Health Activist, one of social mediaʼs most active 10 percent. These individuals are passionate about helping others lead healthier lives. While these reviews are not comprehensive, they provide health marketers with a sense of how typical patients may react to their efforts.

In April, 2009 the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) responded to the urgency of a potential H1N1 pandemic by initiating a program to expand its information distribution capabilities. In collaboration with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the CDC began using social media channels to more aggressively promote H1N1 awareness and disease prevention measures, with impressive results.

The campaign successfully piqued the interest and participation of consumers and health industry partners, providing accurate and timely information about the H1N1 influenza outbreak to tens of millions of Internet surfers. Additionally, their seamless integration of new media with traditional venues produced an excellent model for effective health communications.

Did It Get My Attention? Stopping Power of Campaign:

WEGO Health Activist Sarah Reede

Sarah Reede's public health activism interests stem from personal relationships with loved ones dealing with cancers, HIV and chronic pain conditions. Her desire to educate people about women's health issues, HIV/AIDS and mental illnesses drove her to earn her degree in community health education from Portland State in 2008. A recent move brought Sarah to San Francisco where, in the New Year, she will begin working with the Children's Hospital of Oakland's Research Institute (CHORI) on a National Institutes of Health-sponsored study. This job will allow Sarah to accomplish one of her goals in life; educating the educators, as she will be helping develop a biomedical science curriculum suitable for teaching to fourth- and fifth-grade students. In her free time, Sarah enjoys reading, exploring her new city and watching college sports.

As a woman who lives with a constant social media presence in her life (Facebook, Ning, Twitter, mobile applications on the BlackBerry) I was aware of the efforts of the CDC as they began. Being involved in a community of Health Activists has lead me to do my own research on which organizations are reaching into the expanse of the Internet and having the "best" responses; the CDC is among one of those organizations. Along with the World Health Organization, the CDC has expanded its reach by creating Facebook pages, having multiple Twitter accounts and by keeping up-to-date with the media outlets Internet crowds are using.

The CDC's emergency twitter feed (@cdcemergency) has over one million followers - all people who are seeking the true information and education that is needed. With the ability for followers to "re-Tweet" what @cdcemergency shares, even without actively doing so, the Centers for Disease Control is spreading their information globally.

I am particularly impressed by the CDC's use of widgets, buttons and badges to help educate Internet users. The ability to sign up for email updates, which can then be sent to a phone for immediate dissemination provide even more outlets for proper education. (This "stay home" button is by far my favorite.)

It was interesting to see the eHealth Metrics Data page - I am highly curious as to why "customers" (I would actually use the word "consumer" instead in this situation) are more pleased with the CDC.gov Website. Perhaps the immediate online responses (and available resources) to the health emergency situations in the past year have a direct effect on that. As a Health Activist, I am interested in reading the full report to see what the actual details are.

The constant updating of the CDC 2009 H1N1 Flu page is so very important to Health Activists. There are millions of Websites on the Internet offering health information - but knowing that the government's health page was updated less than 24 hours ago with the latest data, educational information and options is key. Because of the regular updates, I know that I can go to the Centers for Disease Control for my always up-to-date information.

Activist's Additional Thoughts on Campaign:

I am impressed by the CDC's efforts to share correct information with the public. With a little effort on their part (Web page creation, a new Twitter account, etc), they have probably managed to reach millions interested in learning about H1N1.

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