Toward a Healthy Public

Abstract

The leading causes of preventable disease, disability, and premature death are primarily associated with lifestyle and behaviors. Future advances in health are likely to come from the social and behavioral sciences rather than from the biomedical, and health communication can play an integral role in shaping those advances. Three foundation pieces are suggested that health communicators can build on to strengthen our contributions to a healthier future: adopting rigorous and scientific standards of professionalism, establishing communication systems that include rather than exclude the traditionally underserved populations, and improving our own capacity and willingness to hear the wisdom and the wants of the populations we serve—the consumers.