Communication for health promotion: history and identification of effective methods.

Annarosa Frati, Anna Maria Luzi, Anna Colucci

This work aims to delineate the long journey of health communication, from the beginning to the present, stressing how the concept of health service and human health have been evolving together with the kind of political approach to the problem. First, the approach was mainly repressive and based on the surveillance of territory, so that jurisdiction in health matters was centralized and entrusted to the Ministry of Interior. Consequently, communication had little space and was directed to an elite group of insiders, who were able to cope with any public health emergencies, using a very technical and essential language, confusing for most people. In the course of the years, we understood that the reaching of the objective health could be realized with the involvement of citizens, organized groups, public and private institutions. Therefore, it is necessary to ensure citizens the right to receive a clear and correct information, enabling them to be self responsible and better manage their health, in a more and more personalized way, using an authoritative but confidential language and all the modern media.