By Farouk Isa Musa
The Commissioner Kano State Minstry of Health Dr. Abubakar Labaran Yusuf has expressed the need for health reporters in the state to demonstrate professionalism while discharging their duties.
He charged them to always avoid being biased, reporting unconfirmed stories, or spreading rumors by verifying their stories from credible, reliable, and authoritative sources, as contained in a press statement issued by Farouk Isa Musa Public Relations Officer of Kano State Drugs and Medical Consumables Supply Agency.
The Commissioner made the charge Thursday while speaking at a 2-day sensitization workshop which was organized by Kano State Center for Disease Control (KNCDC) and supported by the UK Government's Foreign and Commonwealth Development Office, FCDO-Lafiya Program and the Africa Health Budget Network (AHBN).
Dr. Yusuf spoke at length on the importance and sensitive nature of health reportage, warning that credible and factual reports may save lives, while false or misleading stories could endanger lives or complicate issues.
Speaking on the essence of the workshop, the Director-General of KNCDC Prof Muhammad Abbas said the training was organized to build the capacity and sensitize the participants on how best to report health matters.
According to him, the mandate of his agency, as the name implies, is to control or totally prevent the spread of diseases in the state.He further highlighted that health issues are everyone's business due to their importance to the general public.
Prof. Abbas then called on the participants to use the knowledge they will acquire at the workshop to create awareness among the teeming populace, and to checkmate the spread of misinformation and disinformation in the state and beyond
The participants include all Public Relations Officers, Senior Special Reporters, Special Reporters working at the Ministry of Health and its agencies, and other social media influencers
The facilitators of the sessions who made presentations at the event included Dr. Aisar Salihu Musa of Bayero University Kano, Rachael Abujah, a multi award-winning journalist from News Agency of Nigeria, and Nafisa Murtala, a Kano-based journalist.
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