By Hajaratu Kalokoh
Speak UP Africa, a public health advocacy organization based in Dakar, Senegal, has trained 60 journalists in Sierra Leone on reporting on the killer disease - Malaria.
According to the organizers of the training which took place on Thursday, February 6, the one-day training was geared towards increasing the knowledge base of journalists on Malaria and enable them to do in-depth reporting on the disease in the country.
The training, supported by National Malaria Control Program, was conducted at the Swiss Hotel in Freetown. Speaking at the event, James Wallen, Program Officer at Speak Up Africa, noted that the media was vital in addressing any societal issue.
“A key component of any advocacy strategy is media engagement, due to the fact that this is one of the primary means through which the general population receives information and it is how a national conversation is stimulated,” he said, adding: “The more media attention a particular topic receives, the more likely it is that people, including influencers and deciders, will take the issue seriously. Furthermore, journalists themselves can help hold those in power to account through their reporting and so [they] are crucial advocacy partners.”
Mayor of Freetown, Yvonne Aki Sawyer, said in a keynote address at the event that Malaria makes a population less productive.
“We all in this room have had malaria and what it means (is that) you are off from work or off from school. Generally we are less productive and when your country is striving for development, productivity counts a lot. So many times at our work (place) people will say I am feeling sick. Your ability to function and to actually contribute positively to the GDP of our nation reduces (because of malaria),” she said.
She added: “We in Freetown are matching our service providers to our residence, making it possible for anyone to have their waste collected for disposal so that we have less incident of malaria.’’
The latest World Malaria report released by the World Health Organization in November 2019 reveals an estimated 228 million cases and 405,000 deaths from Malaria in 2018.
The Africa continent, according to the report, constitutes account for the highest percent of Malaria prevalence at 90%.
The report noted that Sierra Leone recorded 1.7 million cases of Malaria.
The government of Sierra Leone has struggled to control the spread of malaria, mostly because of poor sanitation in most parts of the country.
The government’s response include sensitization on prevention and access to treatment. These efforts were boosted with the launch of the “Zero Malaria Start With Me” campaign last year, under which the periodic distribution of chemically treated bed nets have intensified, as well as education of the populace on the essence of good sanitation.
The participating journalists were drawn from all forms of media across the country.
Foday Moriba Conteh, a participant, told Politico that the training was good and timely.
“It’s a very good initiative for media practitioners to be equipped with information on malaria. For Sierra Leone, the message on malaria is not clear and people are not getting it adequately, but I believe that with this training we as media practitioners will educate people about malaria, tell them about the effects, and what mechanism the authorities should put in place in our communities to ensure that we combat malaria,” he said.
The training coincided with the launch of the Pan-African anti-malaria campaign championed by Speak Up Africa.
