7: Healthcare Communications

Health is an issue at the top of personal, media, and government agendas these days as we become more educated and have greater access to information via the Internet, which has led to a boom in “self-care.” Mindful of these trends, governments in Asia Pacific and globally realize that, in addition to healthcare product manufacturers and service providers, they must engage more fully with their populations on this complex subject. This includes regulating and manage the relationship between patient and doctor, and between customers and medical products and services. These trends are making healthcare one of the fastest-growing niche public relations areas in Asia, providing significant public relations opportunities (Henderson, 2005; Vujadinovic, 2020). Whereas work and commentary have been devoted to acknowledging the salient role of public relations in healthcare crises in the Global North (Avery, 2017), countries in the Global South, including the Asia Pacific region, have not been placed under the microscope in this regard. Yet, this public relations approach has long been omitted in the region and is a concern given the urgency and uncertainty of health crises (Lee, 2014).