Journalists and Social media influencers have been charged to see themselves as public health ambassadors with the sole mandate of curbing the spread of outbreak diseases within the society.
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The journalists were charged at a three-day workshop organized by the World Health Organization (WHO), in collaboration with the State Ministry of Health in Yola, the Adamawa State Capital. Experts at the workshop spoke extensively on improving journalists’ skills beyond information reporting to health behaviour outcome reporting. They were also exposed to the need to increase the preponderance of saving information on the mass media on social platforms so as to enable at-risk populations to take informed decisions to protect themselves from disease infections.
Topics treated by the professional speaker at the workshop touched on epidemic-prone diseases such as diphtheria, monkeypox, Lassa fever, cholera, meningitis and measles. Experts who spoke at the workshop emphasized that outbreaks are inevitable, they are recurring and typically sudden. They also say that whenever there is an outbreak, it is always alarming for the public and are also newsworthy that should attract need energy response from health expert and the government as well.
Therefore the journalists were reminded that it is the right of the public to know about the diseases, basic facts and recommendations so that they can be equipped to protect themselves. According to WHO, as one of its core mandates, it has carried out a similar workshop for journalists and Social media influencers in Borno and Yobe States before the one in Adamawa State, the BAY States.
The over sixty journalists that participated in the workshop affirmed that the workshop changed their perception and broaden their knowledge on outbreaks, assuring the public that they will see it in their reportage. One major take home for the journalists at the Yola workshop was that they see themselves as ”Health Ambassadors, Critical Public Health Stakeholders and Indispensable Celebrities. Speakers at the workshop were University professors, Doctors and experts in the journalism profession.
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