The opening session of the 2nd edition of the Post-Graduate Program in Public Health Communication took place on October 1st.

The session started with a welcome from Prof. Nelson Ribeiro, Dean of the Faculty of Human Sciences and Scientific Coordinator of the Program, Prof. Rui Gaspar, Executive Coordinator of the Program and Prof. Nuno Brandão, Coordinator of the School of Post-Graduate and Advanced Training.

Even though the Program was launched before the pandemic, the current situation has made evident the importance that public health communication assumes in promoting responsible individual behaviors that can help contain the spread of the virus. Filipa Melo de Vasconcelos, General SubInspector at ASAE (the Portuguese Economic and Food Safety Authority) and Miguel Telo de Arriaga, Head of the Literacy, Health and Wellness Division of the Directorate-General for Health (DGS), both professors of the Program, discussed "The importance of Communication in Public Health".

The session was also attended by alumni from the 1st edition of the Program who shared their testimonies: Natacha Leal, Social Worker at CTT and Duarte Brito, Public Health Resident - Lisbon Central Public Health Unit.