Enhancing risk communication for more effective epidemic control in Taiwan

This article investigates how to more effectively conduct risk communication to increase the probability of successful control of an epidemic in Taiwan. The epidemic control of H1N1 in Taiwan in 2010 was studied. We used factor analysis and Decision-Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL) to obtain the total influence for each factor and to determine the critical factors among them. After being processed using proposed operational procedures, we obtained the critical factors and found that the government plays the key role in successful epidemic control. To reduce the resistance to efforts that seek to prevent pandemic crises, some necessary intervention activities, such as fairly and honorably exploring the complete relevant information and revealing the side effects of vaccines in a manner that is easily understood, were recommended. These could lead to an increase in immunizations among Taiwanese people by gaining their trust and commitment, thus achieving control of this epidemic.