Communicating about Health in 2026

Much like 2025, 2026 is shaping up to be a year full of turmoil and uncertainty for public health and the biomedical sciences. But while we’re still flying blind in many respects, we’ve learned some lessons along the way that we can put to use as we continue to navigate the storm.

At the end of last year, we had the pleasure of giving our first workshop in a series on health communication for a local county health department. This was an exciting opportunity for us to engage directly with the public health professionals who work on the front lines keeping our communities safe. And while many of the current controversies over health in the U.S. are either abstractions or a matter of personal decision-making for a majority of Americans, local public health professionals must confront and respond to difficult questions on a daily or even hourly basis. 

Today there are many emerging leaders in health communication, and new paradigms for communication are replacing ineffective strategies. Here are a few lessons we’ve learned along the way:

1. Talking about controversial health topics is as difficult as ever, but what we share in common has not changed.

We gave a few short surveys during our workshop, and one of the first questions we asked was what communication tasks our audience struggles with most. One of the most frequent responses was controversial topics, which unfortunately includes many subjects that used to be relatively unpolarizing. But around the issue of controversy emerged another important topic: building trust. We all want to trust and be trusted, but finding common ground can often feel like pushing a boulder up a hill. 

That's why it's important to appeal to universal human experiences when crafting effective health communication. Focusing on what we share in common, whether that's love for our families, concern for the future, or the desire to live a long and happy life, is a much more effective approach than focusing on what divides us.

2. Fear-based messaging doesn’t work, but most of us default to it.

We began our workshop with an overview of the history and theory of health communication, with a particular focus on mistakes and lessons learned. One of the clearest examples of an ineffective approach to health communication is fear-based messaging. While fear can be an effective motivator in the short term, in the long term it causes the public to associate health with negative feelings and can erode trust. Still, many of us in health communications find ourselves wanting to deliver fear-based messages because they communicate urgency. Unlearning this impulse is difficult, but it must be done.

3. Effective communication is about more than delivering the right message.

   
   

Today, being an effective communicator is about more than getting the audience’s attention, though that’s certainly a requirement. Increasingly, people want to see the humanity behind the person delivering the message. They also want to know what values you stand for and what you’re doing to facilitate the action you want your audience to take. And it’s also about knowing where your audience is (in a virtual and geographic sense) and making sure they see the message in the first place. 

4. Health professionals need to collaborate and share their knowledge. 

Public health is still a deeply siloed profession, despite its interdisciplinary nature. While there is no shortage of expertise in local health organizations, those experts don’t always talk to each other. This makes it difficult to set priorities and ensure consistent messaging. For example, those who work in environmental health may want to prioritize safety, while public health nurses may be more concerned with helping their clients access resources. Both are excellent goals, but if the two departments aren’t sharing notes, efforts may be duplicated or even work counter to each other. 

Our commitment to helping individuals and organizations improve their health communication in 2026

The lessons of the past several years have taught us that regardless of which space you occupy in public health or health care landscape, better communication is crucial for rebuilding trust and improving community health. No matter the audience, communication should never be an afterthought.

We founded our business with the goal of helping scientists, researchers, public health professionals, and health care providers find common ground, share resources, and work together toward the common goal of making the world a healthier and more equitable place. We integrate this approach into every project we take on, whether we are preparing a specific deliverable or developing educational content. That’s why we will continue to use our resources at M&D to build bridges between science, medicine, and public health in 2026.

If you want to start a conversation about how we can help you rethink your approach to health communication, just reach out!