The countries of Latin America and the Caribbean are in a process of transition toward a culture of citizen participation and of public institutions, which have the obligation of informing the social sectors about their activities with transparent financial reporting and participatory activities.

Risk communication has been turned into a process that promotes the exchange of information and opinions among individuals, groups, and institutions. Risk communication has three facets: it is a tool, a phenomenon, and a proposal. Besides, it is a process that has progressed from ignoring the public in the past, to incorporating the public as a legitimate partner in present times.

Risk communication is applied in designing programs to tackle a crisis situation, in health care, and in obtaining consensus on a particular topic.

In risk communication, one fundamental factor is the credibility of those providing the information; other key factors are good knowledge of the target public, and an effective message. The message can be easily understood if it is transmitted in a simple way and in terms accessible to any citizen so that the public can understand what a risk is and how they can participate in their personal protection.

From the government viewpoint, risk communication respects the public (being participatory) and their right to know (being transparent) and also recognizes the limitations of the government response.

Work in conjunction with the media is another important role of risk communication, since it is the mechanism through which the message reaches the target public. In addition, the media are one of the main sources of information on the public’s perception of the risks.

Planning plays a very important role in risk communication. Its success or failure can depend on the definition of clear goals, which will vary depending on the nature of the risk and may include information, education, persuasion, negotiation, assurance, and prevention.

In all work that implies the environmental exposure of a population to some hazard (physical, chemical or biological), risk communication is the tool that should be used to provide information to the affected groups, since it identifies the concerns of the community and responds to them; it reduces the tension between the community and the personnel of the agency or institution; and it explains the health risk to the community effectively. It offers the opportunity to communicate health risks in a planned way while at the same time being sensitive to the needs of the population; it integrates the community into the risk management process; it helps to establish trust; and it relieves fear and indignation.

It must be emphasized that risk communication is not a recipe for making good messages to communicate a risk. It is a participatory methodology for planning and drawing up a communication program adequate to the needs of the parties involved. If the planning work is not well done, even if good messages are prepared, they will be of no use unless the community gets to hear them.