Journalists Trained On Health Emergency Reporting

In an attempt to improve the capacity of media professionals, Breakthrough Action Nigeria has empowered about 22 journalists with skills to produce quality Social Behavioural Change reporting providing solutions to the public health emergency outbreak in Bauchi.

LEADERSHIP reports that benefiting journalists were selected from different media organisations across the state held in Azare, Katagum local government area.

Similarly, the training supported by USAID was themed Building Vaccine Champions Among Media Professionals.

Speaking, Programme Officer, Social and Behavior Change  Nura Faggo said the essence was to train media reporters, producers, information officers, and programme officers on how best to handle public health emergencies in their reportage.

Faggo added that at the end of the workshop, participants developed topics that would help address rumours and misconceptions about the current outbreak of Diphtheria, among other diseases, in Bauchi state.

He urged the participants to always verify information regarding health issues, with a view to addressing the Zero dose and becoming solution-based journalists in the state.

In his presentation, Dr Abdulmajid Ahmed, the Programme Officer of Risk Communication and Community Engagement of Breakthrough Action Nigeria, emphasised the need for media practitioners to develop new innovations to address various health challenges in the state.

He added that the primary challenges affecting emergency healthcare response include misinformation, disinformation, and misinformation. Hence, journalists need to redouble their efforts to address all these misconceptions about vaccines, which lead to the prevalence of zero-dose cases in Bauchi.