KNCDC Organizes 2-Day Workshop on Health Reportage

By Farouk Isa Musa 

To ensure efficiency and effectiveness in reporting health matters, the Kano State Center for Disease Control has organized a two-day capacity-building workshop for Public Relations Officers, Senior Special Reporters, and Special Reporters working under the Ministry of Health and its agencies,, some selected journalists and social media influencers.

Declaring the workshop opened, the Commissioner State Minstry of Health Dr. Abubakar Labaran Yusuf has emphasized 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.

Dr. Yusuf spoke at length on the importance and sensitive nature of health reportage, stressing 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 acquired during the workshop to create awareness among the teeming populace and to checkmate the spread of misinformation and disinformation in Kano State and beyond.

During the training, held between Thursday, 13th, and Friday 14th March, a total of six papers were presented by resource persons drawn from both the academia and media industry. The papers presented include the "Ethical Principles in Health Reporting," "The Role of Journalists in Public Health," and "Combatting Misinformation and Infodemic Management."

Other presentations are "Responsible Reporting on Epidemics and Pandemics," "Investigative Journalism in Public Health," and lastly, the "Government Communication and Media Aides' Role."

The facilitators of the sessions 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 renowned Kano-based journalist.

The workshop was supported by the UK Government's Foreign and Commonwealth Development Office, FCDO-Lafiya Program, and the Africa Health Budget Network (AHBN).