Journalists discuss ways to raise health awareness

Using the media to raise public awareness of key health issues was the focus of a Commonwealth workshop which took place at the Indian Institute for Mass Communication in New Delhi, from 30 October to 3 November 2006. 

The workshop, on the theme of ‘Health and Media: Reporting on HIV/AIDS, TB, Malaria and Avian Flu’, was organised by the Institute in collaboration with the Commonwealth Secretariat and the Commonwealth Broadcasting Association.

During the five-day workshop, 15 journalists and other media practitioners from Bangladesh, India, Malawi, Maldives, Mauritius, Seychelles and South Africa visited a hospital, an immunology laboratory and a community health project in a Delhi slum. They listened to presentations from health experts and representatives from the voluntary health sector and media organisations. 

Participants brainstormed story ideas and new ways of getting key messages about critical health issues into the mainstream media. On the subject of HIV/AIDS, they discussed how the media can help overcome the social stigma that can affect HIV-positive people, as well as reinforce messages about using condoms to prevent infection, and avoiding contact with contaminated blood products and hypodermic needles. 

During the workshop, participants noted that an increasingly effective approach of raising awareness is to use televised dramas which not only provide entertainment for millions of viewers, but also carry underlying messages about prevention and living with the virus. 

Ways of combating the spread of malaria and tuberculosis were also discussed. Journalists focused on multiple-drug-resistant and extreme resistant strains of TB. Participants observed how this is caused, in part, by people not completing a course of medication, which instead of killing off the infection, has the effect of enabling the bacteria to survive and develop drug resistance. 

“This workshop has been a real eye-opener,” said Monica M’Manga, who produces a weekly radio magazine programme on health issues for the Malawi Broadcasting Corporation. 

“It is very good to share knowledge, experiences and information with people from other countries and to explore new ideas and approaches. I have learned things which can translate very easily into the African context and which will inform our health programming in Malawi.”

The workshop was funded by the Commonwealth Media Development Fund, which is administered by the Commonwealth Secretariat with financial support from the Governments of India and the United Kingdom.

Key Links:

• Health
• India Country Profile