Culturally relevant and credibly sourced
It’s important that we get facts in the hands of people, but humans are not purely rational creatures. That’s why so many public health interventions also require shifts in our cultural norms and practices. 50 years ago, you could smoke cigarettes pretty much everywhere, even on airplanes and in libraries. Today, the definitive cultural shift away from ubiquitous smoking makes it striking when you see movies or TV shows set in earlier eras that show smoking in so many places we couldn’t imagine it today. There are many of these examples, from practicing safer sex methods to having children sit in car seats well through their toddler years, that have become new cultural norms in a relatively short period of time and led to improvements in public health.
But shifting our health culture isn’t easy to do. When it comes to health communication, the messenger and the medium matter as much as the message itself.
To help health experts make the most of what digital video can offer, YouTube works alongside health authorities to increase their proficiency in digital communication skills, and fosters partnerships between creative digital content creators and medical experts to reimagine how health information is shared.
One of the newest of those partnerships is between the American Public Health Association (APHA) and Complexly, the creative educational production company started by long-time YouTube creators Hank and John Green. Through this partnership, APHA has just launched their new series, That’s Public Health, about the many ways that public health helps improve our lives. From climate change and mental health to housing and racial equity, this 20-part series will showcase the breadth and depth of public health’s role in our daily lives and how it works to keep populations healthier over the long term. The series leverages Complexly’s skills in storytelling alongside APHA's public health expertise to bring the facts to life in fun and engaging ways for learners of all levels.
It’s an exciting time to be working in health communication, with more tools available than ever before to help people. The scale and reach of platforms like YouTube can radically increase equity of access to high quality health information, by breaking down barriers between the ivory towers of academia and the everyday people who want to understand how to take better care of themselves and their families. There is always more work to be done, but we hope to make a difference through our focus on information quality and equity.