Discussion on Health Communication from the Perspective of New Media

On 17 November 2018, the Health Communication Workshop, organized by The School of Journalism and Communication of Peking University and supported by The George Institute China, was successfully held in Beijing. More than 50 participants from China government sectors, leading Universities, media and foundations joined the workshop.

Themed as “New Media, New Communication and Case Study”, the Workshop brought together people from China and abroad with strong interests in health communication, to introduce them to methodology of evidence-based health news reporting and to provide insights into innovative ways of healthcare promotion using reader-friendly comics. The conference was also to inspire cross-disciplinary dialog.

The Workshop was chaired by Professor Xu Jing from the School of Journalism and Communication at Peking University. Dr Tian Maoyi, Senior Research Fellow from The George Institute China, provided a lecture on the opportunities and challenges facing evaluations of mobile health technologies from the perspective of medical research. Dr. Tian shared the research outputs that The George Institute has achieved in the field of mobile health, and his belief in the importance of vigorous development of the mobile Internet and health big data to provide greater perspectives and possibilities for healthcare communication.

Then, Mr. Kannan Krishnaswamy, a seasoned journalist and Communications Manager at The George Institute India, and Mr. Sharad Sharma, founder of World Comics, shared their views on evidence-based health news and their practice of disseminatin medical and health knowledge using reader-friendly comics through deep interactions with participants.

At a special session for new media in the afternoon, Mr. Liang Jialin, Deputy Editor of Caixin Healthpoint, Ms. Cui Ying, founder of Haishangmingyi, and Dr Li Zan from Peking University, discussed their respectives on health communication using the strong power of social media, and how to realize more effective communication with institutions and the public.

The meeting concluded with students from the School of Journalism and Communication of Peking University presenting their insights, thoughts and case studies on health communication. Committee members of the Expert Committee, Journalism and Communication Association of Peking University, including Mr. Mao Kai, Chairman of Blue Future Media Group, and Ms. Cui Ying, provided responses to the comments from the students.

“I hope that the Workshop provided a platform for those interested in health communication to exchange and share ideas and experiences,” concluded by Professor Xu Jing, “and thus allow an expansion of research in this new field and deepen cross-disciplinary dialog.”