IN an effort to resuscitate the Media Awards for Excellence in Health Journalism, the Guyana Country Office of the Pan American Health Organisation/World Health Organisation (PAHO/WHO) yesterday commenced a one-and-a-half day workshop on Health Journalism at the Cara Lodge Hotel in Quamina Street, Georgetown.

PAHO/WHO Representative, Dr. William Adu-Krow, in welcoming the more than 20 keenly enthusiastic journalists gathered from the local mainstream media outlets, outlined the aim of the workshop as being to improve the knowledge and skill of the participants to report health-related issues and better understand how health impacts society.

The workshop was dedicated to the familiarisation of the technical programmes of the Guyana Country Office, including the PAHO-CIDA project, journalistic techniques, and health information gathering and dissemination.

The objectives were to:
* Increase awareness of health and other development issues to influence the adoption of healthy lifestyles in Guyana through the dissemination of reliable health information.

* Encourage the coverage of news and the production of features, documentaries, and related media materials on health and development issues.

* Improve the overall standard of journalism, particularly in health and development; and

* Promote the PAHO/WHO Guyana Country Office media awards.

Dr. Adu-Krow dealt extensively with non-communicable diseases’ health systems and services; while Dr. Rosalinda Hernandez, Advisor, FCH and HIV PAHO/WHO, presented an overview of communicable diseases.

Another speaker was PAHO official Angela Hoyte, who did an overview of Determinants of Health and Promoting Health throughout Life. Other speakers were Melanie Thomas, PAHO/CIDA Coordinator, who gave an overview of the PAHO Canadian Funding Project (PAHO/CIDA); and our very own Mrs. Cathy Hughes, Consultant, whose presentations were based on Health and Development: The Power of Journalism in the Promotion of Wellness; as well as Health and Development Partnership: The Role of the Journalist.

The highly interactive sessions allowed journalists to ask pertinent questions and brainstorm in order to come up with ways of sourcing ‘hard to come by’ information.

Journalists were also called upon to poignantly ask themselves the question: “Are we discussing health issues to an acceptable level?”

And commenting on style and content, members of the media were charged to go beyond reporting the sensational and deliver the ‘need-to-know’ information. “Only then can there be development of people, communities and our country,” Hughes said.
Members of the media were also sensitised on the difference between a ‘Reporter’ and a ‘Journalist’, and how these roles intertwine. Journalists were, moreover, advised to find a way of releasing information related to health, and to explore ways of preventing deaths. ‘It is about a building-blocks process,” journalists were told.

Meanwhile, Dr. William Adu-Krow gave an undertaking that PAHO would seek to discover areas in which they can help, so that journalism can move forward. He also gave a commitment to work with the media Association of Guyana, adding, “Not that we will support you with everything, but we will give you technical advice.”
Evidently heartened at the response and the synergies established, Dr. Adu-Krow commented, “This is only the beginning of things to come. For me, even if it means an attachment of journalists to other media houses in the Caribbean such as Barbados …” He added that UNICEF, UNFPA, and others are about to come on board to make the Journalism Awards more meaningful, lucrative and impacting.

He also proposed leveraging PAHO/WHO for some of the health information needed for journalists.

The facilitators shared with the media a plethora of interesting health-related topics that can be explored and carefully documented, packaged in an interesting and palatable manner, with accuracy as its hallmark.

Journalists were also given an opportunity to come up with interesting ideas.
Pathetically a brief survey done during the workshop revealed a paucity of well researched and documented health related information in our Sunday publications, and that the emphasis was placed too much on ‘downloading’ and replicating other on-line information.

Participants were urged to make the health page a reality for their respective media houses.
Journalists were charged to brainstorm and come up with new and innovative ways of presenting the information and team up with editors to make a commitment to allocate the space.

“To get the message out, you have to come up with creative suggestions,” Consultant Kathy Hughes said.

Meanwhile, reiterating the role of the journalist, PAHO outlined: “The role of Journalists in this partnership is vital to the process of informing and educating citizens in our communities. The task of good journalism, therefore, must be to ‘throw light’ and understanding on these issues, and to promote accurate information on a range of health-related issues, so that consumers can make informed choices and decisions regarding their health.

“All of this comes with responsibilities, and every media worker and journalist must ensure accuracy,” the PAHO officials emphasised.

PAHO Focal Point, Ms. Angela Hoyte, in wrapping up, concluded that the information went well; the group was small but very impacting, and garnered a lot of information from the PAHO Office.

In closing, Dr. Adu-Krow urged the journalists to strive for excellence, adding, “It’s about honesty, integrity and ethics.”

He admonished the participants to forge ahead zealously and with a passion for the task at hand, affirming: “As Journalists, the only limitations [on you] are the ones you put on yourselves.”