**6.1 Health communication**

Conversations about health consist of verbal and written techniques to persuade and empower people, populations, and groups to make healthy choices. Effective health communication is related to social marketing and includes the following components:


Using a variety of communication channels allow the dissemination of health messaging to individuals, communities, and institutions at both the local and national levels. Radio, television, newspapers, flyers, brochures, the Internet, social media, and so on can all be used to communicate health messages. Health communication can be used to alert people to health risks and dangers, reinforce healthy behaviors, influence social norms, increase availability of help and services, and empower people to improve their health.
