TAMPA Infectious diseases can be terrifying. Ebola. HIV/AIDS.
But in the United States, you aren't likely to die from one. Here, the usual killers are noncommunicable diseases: cancer, heart disease, respiratory disease, diabetes. They account for 88 percent of deaths, according to the World Health Organization.
"More people are dying from heart attacks than from yellow fever," said Linda Whiteford, a University of South Florida anthropology professor recently tapped to help lead a center focused on fighting these diseases.
WHO, the agency within the United Nations charged with global health issues, recently designated USF's College of Public Health as a WHO Collaborating Center for Social Marketing for Social Change to address noncommunicable diseases. This is the first WHO Collaborating Center in Florida and it aims to do what those in public health have been working on for years: get people to treat themselves better so they don't get sick, have a poor quality of life and die earlier than they should.
People should be physically active, eat vegetables, get medical screenings, not smoke. This isn't new.
But the way the center will go about it is different.
Of the 700 WHO collaborative centers internationally, it is the first to focus on social marketing. This method uses commercial marketing techniques to persuade people to make life-improving choices, whether it's exercising, recycling or saving money. It has been around for decades but seems to be increasing in popularity, said Carol Bryant, a distinguished USF health professor who is co-directing the WHO center. Soon USF will offer a master's program in social marketing the first program of its kind in the nation, Bryant believes.
"I feel like it's taking off," Bryant said.
Social marketing is more of a holistic attempt to get people to better themselves, she said. It's not a top-down, blanket approach focused on citing studies and telling people what they ought to do.
In this method, the same one companies might use to sell you products, you begin with the "consumer." You target the people you intend to help. You research them. You interview them and listen to their worries, obstacles, hopes and goals.
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USF public health college's new mission: Help others help themselves