Kirill Tuzov, Director for Political Communications and Special Projects, took part in the workshop “Organization of Interaction with the Media”, the 9th all-Russian scientific and practical conference with the international participation “Health and quality — 2016”. The talk “Healthcare in the Media: Between Patients’ Expectations, Doctors’ Concerns, State and Business Interests” was presented to delegates of federal and regional healthcare authorities, journalists, and public relations experts.

The talk focused on the multifaceted influence of various healthcare actors and the whole pharmaceutical industry on the information space. Divergent actions, combined with the particular attitude of the journalistic community to current changes in the social sphere, lead to the long-term stagnation of healthcare advocacy almost for all the target audience.

The impact of communication collision between Russian and foreign pharmaceutical manufacturers was discussed. Debate on drug supply quality and availability has traditionally been an important part of public healthcare discourse. Its dynamism and inconsistency had a strong destructive effect on many important issues related to the health of the Russians and, first of all, on the understanding of state policy in public healthcare.

Political factors are no less significant. Thus, during the 2016 election campaign, the healthcare debate underwent the considerable simplification, vulgarization, and dissemination. Furthermore, political will in the sphere of import substitution and localization creates media opportunities for image advantages for Russian drug manufacturers, the report says. Patient and professional (medical) communities are both the consumers of the controversial information flows and the critical sources of political expertise. All this brings new challenges to press services of the authorities that define and regulate the development of public healthcare.

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