“It’s an era of change”: Marketing Head of Public Health England in a tough year

Public health England, which has given a break to the British government’s response to a pandemic, has had a tough year. Drum spoke with the director of the upcoming Marketing Alexia Clifford while the Public Health Service was considering a move to the National Institutes of Health.

It was a turbulent year for Public Health England (PHE), to say the least. The mission of “protecting and improving the health of the people” was tested from the moment Covid-19 struck the British coast in late January to its limits, but its existence itself was attacked in August. The minister Replace with a UK-wide “health protection” agency..

As an executive body of the Department of Health and Human Services, this year PHE played a vital role in preventing pandemics, developing the Covid-19 test, and collecting important data on cases and mortality. Even its campaign activities have focused on the coronavirus. Despite this, the minister insists on it Pandemic reveals public health service weaknesses..

“It was an interesting year, a conservative expression of the century,” says Alexia Clifford, Deputy Marketing Director of PHE. Clifford will be promoted to head of marketing this month, replacing Sheila Mitchell, who served for 13 years. Clifford led PHE’s flagship social marketing campaign on his behalf for six years. Change4Life,Stop Tober And Clarify about cancer, Saved hundreds of lives by early diagnosis.

Clifford plays this role at an important moment in the history of PHE. Transformed into the National Institute of Health and Nutrition.. The UK Government has announced that the new organization will focus primarily on public health protection and infectious disease capacity, But the minister has not yet planned for broader medical activities Performed by PHE beyond infectious diseases, it raises further questions about the future of well-known programs like Change4Life.

Whatever this dissolution means for PHE’s marketing department, Clifford said the team “absolutely focuses on the work at hand,” which “prevents illness and reduces health inequality.” “is. It’s an “absolute focus and an absolute priority,” and “it’s a time of change, but we continue to work with our partners and really focus on protecting and improving national health,” she said. say.

Last year, PHE saw a wide range of public health activities with a complete focus on pandemic-related causes. “Everything we are doing now is seen through the Covid-19 lens. We absolutely improve on cognition and cognition to know where people’s attitudes are. You need to study more than ever.

Last week, PHE announced the latest iteration of the “Every Mind Matters” platform. They are more worried (38%) and sadder (37%) in response to the insight that two-fifths (41%) of children and adolescents are more lonely than before the lockdown and more than three admit. %) Or more stress (34%).

All Mind Matter, launched in October 2019, was conceived as a major push to address adult mental health. “Over the last decade, attitudes and consciousness have changed dramatically, where there have been major changes in stigma mental health. We give people the tools to take steps to take care of their mental health. I wanted to take action by giving. ” It was marked in the first ever NHS-backed mental health campaignIncludes a short film written by Richard Curtis and directed by Rankin.

campaign Includes interactive quiz “Your Mind Plan”Clifford says that he has exceeded that goal and completed more than two million times. She also reports that people are highly satisfied when using campaign materials, and 87% of users are taking positive action to take care of their mental health after using the website. It has been.

“Since then, things have changed a lot. We have adapted the context before and after Covid-19 and adapted the resources to be relevant to the context. So we have a new issue regarding a particular issue with Covid-19. The content was created online. ”PHE finds ways to improve people’s mental health during this noisy time, so the interactive quiz itself is tailored to the outbreak.

Back in June, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson officially launches government initiative To tell the British people how he dropped the stone after recovering his dog from the coronavirus and to reduce obesity levels in a video walking up and down the freshly cut lawn.

The campaign was devised in response to a PHE study that found a 40% increase in the risk of death from coronavirus when medically classified as obese. “We are looking at data on all health effects. Obesity is always a big problem and we can see its trend. There is a lot of interest in the link between obesity and Covid-19 risk. Yes, that was what we really wanted to land with people clearly. To be clear about science. ”To fight obesity, in fat, sugar and salt (HFSS) high food and drink stores Included a large crackdown on obesity and a 9 pm basin in a junk food ad.

In Covid-19, people inevitably had to adopt new actions rapidly, but how easy is PHE to persuade people? “It’s more important than ever to get the basics right. Study your research. Get the right creativity and insights to help drive behavioral change with really clear propositions.”

Sure, PHE provides support during an unprecedented amount of time, but Clifford explains that the team will conduct insights into a large audience to get the tone right. “We are constantly testing different ways to work with experts in this area when developing content. Strengths of recent campaigns. [Every Mind Matters] It means working with many charities with a great deal of expertise. “

The future of PHE is not yet fully understood, but as the number of Covid-19 cases in the UK begins to grow again, Clifford’s team focuses on disease prevention and inequality mitigation in pandemic England. He said he was matching.