"In matters of communication, the physician must learn and the journalist must understand. However, both are inseparable parts of health". This was the opinion of Jaume Aubiá, director of Human Resources of the Ministry of Health and Consumer Affairs, at the University of Navarra, where he attended the closing ceremony of the I congress on Communication and Health.

Aubiá indicated his support "for a common code of good practice to help overcome the conflicts that arise between media professionals and medicine. The media are one more health agent and have a very important therapeutic activity, although their influence has not been exactly gauged".

Information companies," he continued, "believe they are in compliance if they provide good and rigorous information, but all the institutions must take a step forward to create a common code that, in the end, ensures that all the consequences are good for the public. Sometimes, even when true and contrasted information is given, it can have negative effects on society".

Regarding the training of both sectors of professionals, he clarified that "although there are already courses and masters, it is a road that is just beginning to be traveled and there is still a long way to go. What is true is that one of the first advances is this congress".

Serving the audience

Also participating in the meeting, organized by the department de Comunicación de la Clínica Universitaria de Navarra, was José María Catalán, coordinator of area de Salud de RNE, who explained that "at RNE, the fact that we do not have the conditioning factor of the advertising, so important in privately owned radio stations, gives us greater freedom of movement. With this premise, we try to make knowledge dissemination spaces with a goal: the radio-service, useful for our audience".

Catalán commented that "the programming grid sometimes imposes a way of offering information. Therefore, it is different to communicate about health on Radio 1, which is more generalist, than on Radio 5. On the former, the information is more subject to certain programming corsets and resembles the treatment offered by private radio stations. However, Radio 5 is free from these constraints and, although it is perfectly structured, it allows to open windows dedicated to certain topics".

For her part, Milagros Pérez, coordinator of area de Salud of El País, described health information as "opinionated": "Why inform and not give an opinion? Medicine is a topic similar to others, with its peculiarities, but which also raises issues that can be open to opinion. And each medium, in health issues, has its own line".