Public Health and Public Trust: Transatlantic Challenges in Health Policy

As the COVID-19 pandemic has illustrated, public trust in government decision-makers is as important as public health policies. In the United States and Germany, health experts were thrown into the limelight as they advised politicians on strategies to mitigate the spread of the novel coronavirus. Changing messaging and policies, resentment toward regulations that restricted travel and behavior, and a misunderstanding of how exactly public health experts advised the government on policies all contributed to a growing distrust of not only health experts and policymakers, but democratic processes in general. How can the United States and Germany build better communications infrastructure that supports public health and ultimately trust in leadership? How have health care experts and workers been affected, and what can be done to support them? How can governments lift the veil on decision-making processes to restore faith in democratic institutions? What transatlantic lessons can be learned from these shared experiences?

Speakers:
Marjorie K. Connolly, Public Health Communications Consultant, Infectious Diseases Society of America
Kathrin Loer, Professor of Political Studies, University of Applied Sciences Osnabrück

Moderator:
Susanne Dieper, Director of Programs and Grants, AGI

This event is part of the AGI project “The Importance of the Transatlantic Partnership in Times of Global Crises” and is generously funded by the Transatlantic Program of the Federal Republic of Germany, funded by the European Recovery Program (ERP) of the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK).