Bernard Seytre
    FR

    Public health communication

    Getting people to embrace public health programs and campaigns.

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    Bernard Seytre

    Missions in some fifteen African countries, including for

    • Global Fund
    • WAHO (ECOWAS)
    • French Red Cross
    • Togo Ministry of Health
    • Côte d’Ivoire NACP and NTCP
    • Comorian Red Crescent
    • COOPI
    • L’Oréal

    A field within public health

    Communication is one of the interventions used in public health programs and campaigns, and the main one when no biomedical solution is available.

    Driving behavior change

    The aim of public health communication is to bring about behavior change: vaccination, handwashing, healthy lifestyles, protected sex...

    A multidisciplinary approach

    To promote behavior change, public health communication draws on several disciplines, so that it can build on the representations of target populations and anticipate how they will perceive its messages.

    Expertise

    Health culture

    The theoretical framework of health culture (culture en santé): grounding communication in what people know and believe about health.

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    Communication strategies

    Socio-anthropological surveys, strategies and plans, awareness-raising tools, training for field workers.

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    Courses and training

    University courses and training tailored to each audience: health workers, NGOs, journalists, ministries.

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    Talks and media

    Presentations at conferences and seminars, media appearances, videos.

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    HIV/AIDS awareness-raising, Rail-Link program, Senegal

    In the field

    HIV/AIDS awareness-raising, Rail-Link program, Senegal

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    What I offer

    Drawing on extensive experience in many countries and on my own research, I teach courses and deliver training, design communication strategies, and produce printed, video and digital awareness-raising tools.

    My work is grounded in the theoretical framework of health culture, which holds that communication strategies and messages must be based on the target population's 'culture' regarding the health issue at hand. This includes, but is not limited to, its representations, knowledge, perceptions of health authorities, social norms, and cultural and historical contexts. Socio-anthropology and health psychology help to study health culture and to anticipate how messages will be perceived.

    Health culture
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    What participants say

    « Cette formation a révolutionné ma vision de la communication en santé publique. »
    « Une approche très inspirante parce qu’elle met la communauté au centre, au cœur de toutes les interventions de santé publique. »
    « Chaque thème, il y avait des cas à traiter, adaptés à ce qu’on a vécu sur le terrain. »

    Certificate in Public Health Communication, Senghor University, June 2026 (in French) · Watch the video

    My clients

    My clients are governments, international organizations, NGOs and health program managers. I take on one-off assignments (training, production of printed or video awareness-raising tools, etc.) as well as complete programs (socio-anthropological study, communication strategy, training and production of awareness-raising tools). I also teach public health communication in Master's programs.

    A mission, a course, a talk?

    Ministries of Health, international organizations, NGOs, universities: let's discuss your project.