Andy Burness is founder and president of Burness, a global communications firm supporting nonprofits.

The mantra these days among many public health officials and advocates is that there is a trust problem. And the responsibility for that problem, according to some, is with vaccine deniers and anti-science zealots.

That analysis has a huge hole. Researchers and practitioners agree that science-driven advice isn’t always spot on, and that circumstances change.

And while distrust is fueled by vaccine deniers and anti-science rhetoric, public health itself has contributed to the problem through shifting advice, historical failures — among them the 1976 swine flu outbreak and the Tuskegee syphilis study — and inconsistent COVID-era messaging.

We have been here before, and some of the damage is long-lasting. The question is how public health officials, workers, researchers and champions can repair the broken trust.

Here is a possible road map:

• Improve messaging and talk straight to the public: We must eliminate jargon, acronyms and general public-health mumbo jumbo. Phrases such as “public health infrastructure,” “system reforms” or “disease prevention and health promotion” don't have meaning for the public, nor do acronyms such as FQHCs and HHS.

Concrete, descriptive language is far more effective at reaching people. Consider how Jenna Russell, a reporter with The New York Times, described what researchers at Harvard’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health do: “Among hundreds of other subjects, faculty members study aging and life spans; the connection between Medicare coverage and mortality; the cancer risk of eating red meat; links between environmental exposures and dementia; the parasites that cause malaria; children’s mental health in migrant detention centers; and the relationship between coffee consumption, gut health and colon cancer."

That is public health. No PhD required.

• Tell stories that give life to these messages: To engage the public, data and evidence are never enough. People want authenticity and content to which they can relate. People want stories from credible messengers, not just credentialed experts. As is now commonly said, “Nothing about us without us.”

If the story you want told is about climate change, maybe it starts with a child you know who suffers from asthma. Other topics might begin with a school principal trying to manage students’ mental health. Or a first-person account of a nurse or doctor seeing more sexually transmitted infections at a clinic.

• Use inclusive language to engage public health skeptics. Recognize that more than half of Americans read below a sixth-grade level. Meet people where they are, not where you want them to be. Communicate with clear and common words. And emphasize words that unite, such as community, freedom, civility and fairness.

And when communicating with people turned off by what they perceive as politically coded language, let go of language you prefer. No one wins if people are turned off by what you say and the conversation ends early.

• Be creative in the search for common ground. In May, two health advocates shared how they have partnered with community leaders, conservative ranchers and faith leaders to help defeat several anti-vaccine bills in recent years.

Key to getting local support was getting North Dakota ranchers to acknowledge that, just as vaccinating cattle is critical for animal health, so it is with vaccinating people against common infectious diseases. The campaign didn’t disparage North Dakotans’ distrust. Instead, it validated feelings, addressed concerns, used strategic storytelling and utilized trusted messengers.

• Speaking of right messengers, we need new ones. Conservatives feel left out. So let’s find voices for actions all of us can support — such as healthier life spans, maternal health, prevention of diabetes and heart disease, and combatting dementia.

No ideology or political party should own the bullhorn for public health. We need to reach people who don’t think about public health, or don’t know what it is. And yet they care about the health of their family, their community, their state.

These people might be political conservatives, faith leaders, veterans and military personnel, parents with school-age children, or North Dakota ranchers.

• Take new media seriously. In the past, people read newspapers, watched local news and equated national visibility with coverage in The New York Times or CBS News or NPR. That’s an outdated playbook. Today, many people get their news through YouTube, Facebook, TikTok and online influencers. Your local epidemiologist on Substack may be the most influential health journalist in the country.

Many content creators — who command followings through their authenticity — are way more popular with young adults than the “legacy media.” If we want to reach large numbers of people with our public health messages, we need strategies to reach new media. President Trump used this tactic to help him win the presidency by sitting for interviews with podcast hosts popular among young people. We need smart, modern online strategies to supplement our outreach to the traditional media. This has been the MAGA playbook, but it’s available to all of us.

At stake is nothing less than the decisions Americans make about their health and the health of their communities. We can do more than lament the loss of trust. We can do something about it. And that starts with re-thinking how we communicate about public health.

Photo by Delmaine Donson, courtesy iStockphoto