---
id: "coronavirus-smarter-crowdsourcing:strategies/Conduct-a-public-health-messaging-campaign-explain"
type: "GovLab policy strategy"
title: "Conduct a public health messaging campaign explaining contact tracing."
url: "https://coronavirus.smartercrowdsourcing.org/strategies/conduct-a-public-health-messaging-campaign-explain"
summary: "Conduct a public health messaging campaign explaining contact tracing. Governments should perform outreach to the public with messages about contact tracing before and while they implement telephone and in-person interviews and contact tracing. This will help the public understand why they are being contacted and what the goal of these efforts are."
source: "The GovLab (coronavirus.smartercrowdsourcing.org)"
licence: "Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/)"
---

# Conduct a public health messaging campaign explaining contact tracing.

Conduct a public health messaging campaign explaining contact tracing. Governments should perform outreach to the public with messages about contact tracing before and while they implement telephone and in-person interviews and contact tracing. This will help the public understand why they are being contacted and what the goal of these efforts are.

- Timeframe: 1-3 Months (immediate)
- Audience: Civil Society, Vulnerable Populations, Healthcare Providers, Essential Workers, Government Workers, Organized Civil Society, Nonprofits
- Type: Communications, Partnerships, Vulnerable Populations
- Recommendation: [Localization](https://coronavirus.smartercrowdsourcing.org/recommendations/localization)
- Part of: [Smarter Crowdsourcing in the Age of Coronavirus](https://coronavirus.smartercrowdsourcing.org/)

## Actions governments should take

1. Identify local people and organizations that influence local opinions
2. Offer education opportunities to community leaders.
3. Work with community groups to adapt messaging to the local culture and context
4. Contract with local influencers to develop and disseminate messages about contact tracing
5. Partner with trusted community sources to conduct regular press briefings to provide information about contact tracing
6. Develop key messages that focus on getting people to answer their phones and to engage honestly with contact tracers

## Examples from around the world

1. [During the 2014 – 2015 Ebola outbreak, thousands of community health workers were trained to serve as contact tracers. The community health workers were a crucial supplement to the existing public health workforce and helped to link the community to testing and treatment centers. The community health workers were important to the success of the program, not only because they increased the number of workers, but because they were able to help overcome the fear and lack of trust in the country’s health system during the outbreak.](https://jglobalbiosecurity.com/articles/10.31646/gbio.69/)