70 African journalists to be schooled on NTDs
Over 70 journalists from 35 African countries would be educated on the situation of Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs) in Africa at the annual media forum of the African Media Network for Health and Environment Promotion (REMAPSEN).
Scheduled to come off in November this year in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, the forum, which would bring together African journalists from Francophone, Anglophone, Lusophone, Hispanophone and Arabophone countries, is aimed at breaking the media silence surrounding NTDs.
The Chairman of REMAPSEN's Board of Directors, Mr Bamba Youssouf, said this at a press conference in Abidjan to launch this year’s forum, which would be on the theme, "Media Contribution to Positioning the Fight Against Neglected Tropical Diseases in Africa."
Mr Youssouf said this year’s forum would be an opportunity to bring NTDs out of their state of neglect and place them among priority subjects in media information processing in Africa.
Community awareness
The Coordinating Director of the National Programme for Combating NTDs with Preventive Chemotherapy in Cote D’Ivoire, Dr Djè Ngoran Norbert and the Coordinating Director of the National Leprosy Elimination Programme, Dr Agui Sylvestre Dizoé, who took turns to brief journalists on the NTDs situation in Cote d’Ivoire, expressed their satisfaction with the selection of NTDs as the central theme for the upcoming forum.
They acknowledged the important role of the media in community awareness and advocacy with public authorities and partners.
They expressed their commitment to making the Abidjan gathering a success.
On the sidelines of this year’s forum would be the presentation of the Michel Sidibé prizes and the Special Envoy of the African Union for the Medicines Agency.
These prizes, explained by the Awards Director, Line Renée Batongué, reward annually the efforts of the best journalists in the health and environmental fields, as well as the most productive countries in the implementation of the organisation’s activities.
