By Joy Burks, Susan Spencer and Sarah Hamilton
Today’s public health advocacy landscape is faced with unprecedented challenges.
Rollbacks to prevention and equity programs, ideological attacks on science, workforce reductions and high-level resignations are leaving gaps in leadership and sowing confusion across the health system. The result: Companies, nonprofits, advocacy groups and academic institutions alike are struggling to chart a clear path forward.
In this environment, advancing your mission can feel like threading the tiniest of needles, where every move matters and missteps carry risk.
But moments like this can also sharpen purpose. With the right strategy, organizations can navigate turbulence, stay true to their values and remain trusted voices for public health. At Avoq, here’s how we’re helping clients do exactly that.
Silence speaks louder than you think
This isn’t the time to sit on the sidelines. Re-center on the health outcomes that are the foundation of your work—whether preventing chronic disease, expanding access to care or tackling inequities. This will likely require retooling your strategy and finding the right messaging to show your value in protecting community health.
If there’s organizational queasiness regarding moving off the sidelines, remember: You don’t have to weigh in on everything. Stay focused on demonstrating value to the community you serve and not getting caught up in broader criticisms that don’t relate directly to your mission. Then, when you do speak out, your message will carry that much more weight.
Small wins still save lives
It’s easy to feel paralyzed in this environment. But even incremental wins add up to impact. Instead of focusing on how to stay out of the conversation, identify those moments when you have a strong reason to jump in. You may take some heat, but an across-the-board rejection of every policy won’t move the organization forward, nor will it ensure a seat at the table.
Misinformation moves fast, so move faster
In public health, credibility and clarity aren’t luxuries—they save lives. In a moment when trust is under constant attack, the fundamentals of crisis communications take on new urgency. That means being ready before the next wave hits: having clear roles, decision-making processes and draft materials in place, as well as a shared understanding across teams of how to respond quickly and consistently. It also means protecting your most valuable asset—trust—by ensuring every message aligns with your mission and stands firmly on the facts.
Another fundamental: clear, streamlined communications. Too often, organizations in crisis situations find themselves playing Whac-A-Mole with the barrage of misinformation. It’s impossible to keep up. Being strategic about how and where you’re sharing information, making a statement and acting as a steady, credible voice is key.
In public health, nobody wins alone
If ever there was a time for strategic partnerships, it’s today. Public health has always been powered by coalitions—from APHA to local alliances—because there’s strength in numbers. Allies give you additional reach in a vital moment and collective cover when it’s needed. Whether rallying together with like-minded organizations to co-author an op-ed, sign a statement or stand up a coalition, collaboration makes your messages stronger and harder to ignore.
Insight is power in public health
More than ever, navigating today’s turbulence requires a firm grounding in the policymaking currents that affect public health—appropriations for prevention, regulatory shifts in food and drug safety or debates over reproductive health. We often leverage our bipartisan government relations team to suss out what both sides are thinking and discussing—behind the screaming headlines and in the deal room—to develop insights that clients can use to reach their key audiences.
In today’s fractured environment, effective communication requires the three Cs: conviction, clarity and credibility. In public health, those aren’t just communications principles. They’re lifelines for communities that rely on trusted voices to protect health and advance equity. The needle might be tiny, but it can be threaded—and when it is, it saves lives.
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