DevComs trains health reporters, producers on Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn and Child Health Advocacy

Wednesday, November 11, 2015

To improve accuracy and facilitate effective reportage of Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn and Child Health (RMNCAH) issues in the media space, DevComs organized a training on RMNCH Advocacy for media professionals in Lagos.
 
The participants made up of core group of news reporters, producer, editor from print, radio and television were taken through basic terminologies in RMNCH, religious and traditional factors related to RMNCH in Nigeria, Sustainable Development Goals, and a number of policies and laws related with RMNCH in Nigeria.
 
Few of these policies such as the Violence Against Persons Prohibition Act, National Health Act, National Child Health Policy, National Reproductive Health Policy.
 
Participants, at the end of the training testified that they were able to relate more to the statistics and figures on maternal and child health.
 
Beyond just quoting figures, they could relate the figures to daily occurrence of maternal and child deaths and the impact on families and communities.
 
Participants were also more familiar with some policies that had a bearing on maternal and child health in Nigeria.
 
A follow up training was carried out on budget tracking to improve journalists’ understanding of health budgeting in Nigeria, the trend and ways to monitor and analyse the budget.