By Iliya Kure
Kaduna (Nigeria) — Journalists in Kaduna will on Monday undergo a training on reporting zoonotic diseases – diseases contracted from animals. This is coming from a collaboration between Nigerian Veterinary Medical Association (NVMA) and Africa Media Development Foundation (AMDF).
In a statement, Chairman of NVMA Kaduna State Chapter, Dr Yila Umaru said the training is meant to expose journalists to understanding issues related to diseases humans contract from animals.
He said recently the world had been plagued with diseases of animal origin, but poor information management had left people confused on how to manage the diseases, leading to rise in myths and misconceptions.
He said “we are excited working with AMDF in reaching journalists for the training. We believe once journalists understand zoonosis related issues, the public will in turn understand how to protect themselves from these diseases”.
On her part, the Coordinator of AMDF, Mrs. Sekyen Dadik who also noted that the training is informed by rising cases of diseases contracted from animals, added that the preparedness and response capability of a country towards an outbreak depend among other factors, the information readily available to the public.
She said “to achieve any meaningful success in prevention and control of such outbreaks, there must be collaboration between the media and experts involved.”
The media, according to her, serves as the easiest means of educating and enlightening the general public, but “for the media to give accurate information to the public, there is the need for experts to maintain transparent information and provide scientific expertise.”
Dadik said, AMDF will continue to work with experts and other stakeholders to provide the media with useful and basic information on different diseases contacted from animals and their timelines.
