Mental Health: WHO, UN empathises on capacity building for journalists 

Capacity building is a critical tool in helping and enabling journalists take care of their mental health, address the challenges associated with their work as well as report the issues better.  This was disclosed by World Health Organisation (WHO) and the United Nations Information Center (UNIC) at a two-day training programme organised for Journalists in Abuja, the Nation’s capital.

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The WHO Representative in Nigeria, Dr Walter Mulombo, explained that mental health disorders had increased and affected 15 per cent of working-age adults globally.

According to him, Journalists by the nature of their jobs, do face tremendous amount of pressure, especially with lot of media outfits working for 24 hours, 7 seven days a week.

“Given the importance of the work you do, there’s a need to build your capacity on mental health. Therefore, various topics will be covered over the next two-days, including what is mental health and why we all need to have good mental health. Mental health is universal human right, intersection between journalists and mental health, practical strategies to prevent and/or manage common mental health conditions, and how to empower you to report on mental health issues,” Dr. Mulombo said.

He also noted that Mental health underpins a persons ability to make decisions, build relationships and shape the world they live in.

“Our mental health is as important as our physical health. When we have good mental health we can cope with the stresses of life, realize our own abilities, learn and work well and contribute actively to our communities. WHO would always remain committed to building journalists capacity and to empower them on different aspects of health including strategies for managing individual health,” he added.

Similarly, the Director, United Nations Information Center (UNIC), Mr. Ronald Kayanja, said that the training was to enable journalists understand the right ways of how to look after their mental health as well as report the issues.

“These days, we are so conscious about our physical health, but now we should also learn a lot about our mental health. How we report about mental health issues requires capacity building, to help us understand how to keep ourselves and also report mental health,” Kayanja said.

On his part, the National Coordinator, National Mental Health Programme, Nigeria’s Ministry of Health, Dr Tunde Ojo, stressed that the training was designed to equip journalists with necessary tools to deal with mental health issues.

“It has become important to understand one’s mental state, while discharging his or her duty, hence the training to promote mental wellbeing of journalists. Journalist can be quite vulnerable while discharging their duties and if neglected it can cause serious damage to one’s entire wellbeing. Journalist are exposed to lots of things daily that impact their mental health negatively; we want journalists to know how to cope with mental health, when to take break or even see an health expert when necessary. Understanding mental health can help journalists give better reportage about it; we believe journalists and healthcare workers are strategic, because whatever they decide to do can affect the society”.

The event which was attended by journalists from across 40media organisations featured discussion on prevention strategies for common mental health conditions, intersection between mental health and Journalism, as well as discussion on reporting mental health issues in the media, Group stress counseling and evaluation.

The  training with the theme: “Celebrating the power of community kindness”  was put together by the World Health Organization and the United Nations Information Center in collaboration with other UN agencies to commemorate the World Mental Health Day often celebrated globally on the 10th of October, yearly.