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This paper aims to provide public authorities with suggestions on persuasive communication content that will incite citizens to adopt new recommended preventive behaviors. To achieve this, factor analysis as well as structural equation modeling were used. First, the results show that there is a positive and significant relationship between persuasive governmental communication and perceived fear; second, the relationship between persuasive governmental communication and perceived vulnerability is positive. The originality of this work is that it is among the very few that use the concept of trust as a moderator of several relationships: the relationship between persuasive communication and fear as perceived by the recipients of the message, the relationship between persuasive communication and recipients’ perceived vulnerability, the relationship between perceived fear and perceived risk, the relationship between perceived vulnerability and perceived risk, and the relationship between perceived risk and the adoption of new behaviors by recipients of the message. The results of the moderation test underline the need to study this concept in depth in the context of public communication in Cameroon in particular, and Africa in general. © 2022 IDMP/Lavoisier SAS. All rights reserved