By: IsatouSarr
Association of Health Journalists (AOHJ), has renewed its commitment to reporting public health events and providing the public with accurate health information from credible data sources, articles, and interviews.
The president of the association Sally Jarju, stated that capacity gaps in reporting on health and nutrition issues are a great focus, “this is so because most of our active members are new on the job and have not benefited from the previous trainings that the former executive members have conducted.”
“Therefore, we desire to intensify our efforts in lobbying for training opportunities for our members. We are a non-profit, and non-political body, and our economic muscles are weak for our only source of money is membership contributions which is not enough for us to conduct training, so we want to take this opportunity to call on you all our dear partners to always have us in mind when you have media components in your advocacy plans,’’ she stated.
Sheriff Saidykhan, the assistant secretary-general of AOHJ and vice president of the Gambia Press Union (GPU), stated that the AGM is a significant milestone for the Association, as enshrined in its constitution to reflect and envisions new opportunities for the association, adding that the theme for the AGM and congress is a “symposium on Gender-based violence (GBV) and Aids’’.
“The global endemic has claimed an estimated 42.3 million lives to date. Out of the 39.9 million people living with the virus currently, 65% are in the African region. This is deeply worrying and demands immediate action to eradicate this virus, the association is legally registered with the mandate to empower health journalists on capacity-building training, on health reporting among others. The association has over the past years been active at the forefront to amplify the work of health ministry and institutions across the country,’’ he stated.
