Risk Communication and Community Engagement in Action During Ukraine’s War

Abstract

In the light of recent emergencies in Europe and around the globe—including COVID-19 and the war in Ukraine—the spotlight has shifted towards the scarcity of Risk Communication and Community Engagement (RCCE) research applied to health emergencies. RCCE nurtures the sense of empowerment among communities since it ensures that individuals and communities are part of the solution creation, thus they take informed decisions to protect their health and in turn, contribute to emergency control. Therefore, RCCE can play an important role as core public health intervention across health emergency preparedness and response. However, its tremendous impact, is still underestimated and not widely common. This viewpoint showcases the RCCE measures applied to the Ukrainian emergency to ensure that Ukrainian refugees access health services in host countries, based on their needs and concerns.

Keywords

• risk communication and community engagement
• participatory approach
• war
• refugees