Overview

This lesson uses the disease Valley fever as a model for understanding and applying a One Health approach to public health communications. 

Learners will be introduced to Valley fever through a news article that describes one individual’s experience with the disease. They are asked to evaluate the roles that communications played in the individual’s experience, as well as in their own experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Learners are then tasked with developing a communication tool to educate residents of Yolo County about Valley fever. Prior to developing their own tools, they are asked to evaluate the websites of three county public health offices in California. Based on these evaluations, and their own understanding of effective public health communications, learners will create written, graphical, audio, or video content that incorporates a One Health approach and communicates important information about Valley fever. 

As an additional application activity, learners may extend the knowledge gained in the Valley fever exercise to develop communication materials related to Rift Valley Fever (RVF) in Uganda. The connection between disease-event risk and climate is built upon in this activity as learners explore the risks of RVF in the context of rising temperatures and weather events.

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