By Abdullahi Alhassan, Abuja
Pathfinder international Nigeria office has equipped Journalists with modern skills and terminology use in reporting Family planning (FP)and Maternal Newborn and Child Health, MNCH related stories.
The training was held in Abuja which lasted for two days draw Media practitioners from Kaduna, Kano, Lagos and the FCT as well as policy makers across various departments of Developmental sector to discuss way forward in reporting Family Planning (FP) and Maternal Newborn and Child Health (MNCH) cases especially in implement projects states.
Bayo Ewuola Pathfinder Senior Media and Communication officer said the purpose of this workshop was to deepen understanding of critical issues in FP and MNCH.
“We know that these are not abstract concepts. They are about saving lives of our mothers, our sisters, our daughters, our aunties, people that matter to us, basically, and building a healthier, more prosperous future for our community.
He expressed optimism that media as very powerful sector will engineer changes.
“This training is designed to empower journalists and even social media influencers to tell impactful, more accurate, and more ethical stories that go beyond the headlines and truly resonate with the public and the decision makers”. he said.
“We look at solution journalism also, instead of the blame game, how to better address issues, to prefer solutions using different platforms that we’ve engaged. that’s why we are looking at,we expect that journalists post this workshop, we better be equipped to serve as the public.
“We know that each state has its own priorities as far as FP and MNCH is concerned. During this training, we’ve been able to identify all these priorities, the gap that exists, and even the opportunities that media can jump on in Kaduna,Kano,and Lagos, even FCT, Abuja.
“So our goal is to move past these statistics we see it every day.We want to move past this. We want to help,we want to work with journalists to understand the real world priorities, challenges, and this means going to the source.
“Also understanding the policies and giving a voice to the communities that are most affected. And, you know, and we’ve seen how we’ve been able to see how to better support the communities and how to better set agenda, you know, to address issue”, he added.
Comrade Alhassan Yahaya, President of Nigerian Union of Journalists, how take part in the training workshop appreciate the organization for organizing the workshop.
He further explained “This is really timely, looking at the data that was released from NDHS, it shows categorically that some states from the northern part of Nigeria are bedeviling with issues of maternal mortality.
“This is one key critical issue we need to focus on. building capacities of journalists, so that at the end of the day, we’ll be strong advocates for a better change in our dear country.
The NUJ National President maintained that the issue is alignment. it is high time for all of us as journalists to focus more and give our time and develop our energy by making sure that we give our contribution towards reducing maternal mortality.
He opined that “Any community that subscribes to family planning or child spacing, as we call it in the northern part of Nigeria, no doubt that community are going to reduce maternal death by 40%. So through family planning or child spacing, we are going to be reducing maternal death by 40%.
The NUJ President added “it is high time for us as journalists to be strong advocates for child spacing and family planning methods. it is important for journalists, especially from the core northern part of Nigeria, to venture into the health journalism.
Co-Chairman of the Maternal Accountability Mechanism in Kaduna Initiative (KADMAM) Comrade Garba Muhammad while setting the tone presenting an overview of FP and MNCH in Kaduna State, seek for integration of FP and MNCH among priories of the High Impact Practices (HIPs) for optimal services in the state.
“On youth and community engagement, he advocated for engagement of religious and traditional leaders to reduce stigma and myths. In addition, he seek for implement male involvement strategies and community dialogue as well as scale up of adolescent friendly SHR services and school-linked outreach.
“On finance and budgetary allocation, Muhammad advocated for release of FP budget allocation , strengthening of accountability Mechanism and tracking of expenditure from State to PHC level.
While identifying gaps such as low community awareness to access FP and MNCH services and inadequate data use for planning and decision making, the Co-Chairman suggested opportunities such as strong political will from government and the Kaduna State Primary Health Care Board and partnership with international donor agencies,CSOs, implementing partners and the media in mitigating challenges.
“On opportunities for the media to leverage, Muhammad advocated to the media to set agenda on FP and MNCH on public and policy agenda.
” We are also seeking for media support in providing platforms for talk shows to creat awareness and behaviour-change campaigns to address myths and promote FP and MNCH services. The media should also track government commitments and budget as well to come up with data driven storytelling and local facility scores as to promote accountability”, he added.
Highlights of the 2-day Media capacity -strengthening workshop on Family planning (FP) and Maternal Newborn and Child Health are paper presentation by Facilitators with topics, such as “Key Terminologies in Family planning and Maternal Newborn and Child Health,the Media’s role in Agenda setting for Family planning and Maternal Newborn and Child Health among others.
