The World Health Organisation (WHO) has trained at least 53 journalists in Adamawa on health and behavioural change reporting.

Kingsley Igwebuike, WHO’s communication resource person, said the three-day training aimed to expose journalists to the rudiments of health reporting and public health knowledge.

He added that the training would also increase the preponderance of life-saving information on mass media and social platforms to enable at-risk populations to take informed decisions to protect themselves from disease infection.

He said the training is to re-emphasise WHO’s role during emergencies, understand journalists’ role as public health ambassadors and imbibe basic knowledge on risk communication and infodemic management.

Ahemen Terseer, the WHO coordinator in the state, tasked journalists to be proactive in educating the public on the epidemic before it happens.

He said it would also be good for journalists to embark on surveillance of the need for the public to take preventive measures against the outbreak of epidemic-prone diseases.

“We, as journalists, ought to educate people on environmental sanitation, hand washing and the imperative of drinking good water to prevent diseases like Lassa fever, Malaria, Cholera, yellow fever, and meningitis, among others,” he said.

According to him, cholera outbreak in the state is an annual affair, hence the need for the media to do the needful before the outbreak.

He said that in 2022, there was an outbreak in the Shelleng, Guyuk and Numan local government areas of the state.

A participant, Jessica Bakari of the Adamawa State Broadcasting Corporation, lauded WHO for organising the training, describing the initiative as timely.

(NAN)