The fellowship coordinator of the Africa Disease Reporting Fellowship (ADReF), Onche Odeh, has advised journalists to prioritise reporting diseases and other health issues on the continent from the African perspective.
He made the call in Abuja during an interview with Daily Trust at a one-week physical training of ADReF fellows organised by the Africa Diseases Prevention and Research Development Initiative (ADRAP).
He said doing so would make Africa better, and even be of benefit to the various governments on the continent.
Odeh, who is an award-winning journalist and development specialist, said there were a lot of stories to tell about infectious diseases, emerging and neglected tropical diseases, and what the West can learn from Africa among others.
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He said, “There is more than enough to report. It is important that we create lines of engagement or reportorial focus with every story that we do. We should be deliberate about bringing in the context that is relevant to our location. Otherwise, it is going to be difficult to even get noticed in the first place.”
He said the need to report health from the African perspective inspired the fellowship, adding that it is geared towards, “building the capacity of African journalists to know that’ yes, this is global, but as a context that is also African.
“So it is important that journalists know that there is also a context that actually defines the disease progression, the outbreaks and then the control as well. So we hope that after this fellowship, journalists would have been sensitized enough to know that for every reportage there is an African perspective.”
While saying that it does not mean other things happening elsewhere should be neglected, he added that it is basically meant to create the consciousness of the African perspective.
He also enjoined journalists to go beyond reporting assignments and press conferences to reporting issues about the continent.
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