Freetown Sierra Leone, 26th June 2024.
At a critical time of radical transformation in the health sector, the Minister of Health, Dr. Austin Demby, engages media stakeholders on improving partnership and collaboration in his first ever major town hall event. The activity, which brought together practitioners, including editors, reporters, regulators and educators, targeted at fostering a culture of enhanced health reporting to promote wellness and improve health outcomes.
Minister of Health, Dr. Austin Demby, central, gets a snapshot with media stakeholders in Sierra Leone after very successful discussions on strengthening partnership and collaboration.
Held at the Family Kingdom Resort in Freetown, frank exchanges of ideas on how the Ministry of Health and the media can enhance collaboration, improve partnership and demonstrate a sense of accountability, were key highlights of the programme.
Delivering his keynote address, Minister of Health, Dr. Austin Demby, expressed amazement at the level of transparency, honesty, insightfulness and progressive nature of all the conversations around accountability, ethical and professional considerations in health reporting.
Dr. Demby is leading an exciting new transformation of healthcare provision in Sierra Leone, one that is premised on the life stages approach.
With this innovative approach, which prioritizes health service delivery to the individual from pregnancy through to when the child grows into senior citizen, the country has firmly committed to achieving Universal Health Coverage (UHC) by 2030.
To achieve this bold target, “we must work towards providing affordable, accessible and quality healthcare for all Sierra Leoneans without causing financial hardship,” the Minister said.
Dr. Austin Demby delivering the keynote address at the just concluded inaugural town hall engagement with media stakeholders
Delivering quality and affordable healthcare is not just about introducing concepts. The Minister is deliberate about achieving results. “We are setting bold targets and pursuing those targets with clear deliverables and timelines in mind,” he added.
According to Dr. Demby, the introduction of the Life Stages Approach is already bearing fruits in maternal and child health outcomes. In just two years, maternal deaths have been reduced by about 60% with more positive news to come. To build on these gains, the media should accompany us in this journey, Dr. Demby said.
He went on, “our job is to provide quality care to our people and yours is to hold us to account, but also to propagate as much of our good news as you do with our challenges.”
Addressing the excited crowd of media practitioners, civil society organizations and health authorities, the Minister of Information and Civic Education, Hon. Chernor Bah, said that the narratives around health reporting can only be changed if there is a strong and dedicated partnership between the media and health authorities.
Dr. Austin Demby, actively engaged in a group conversation with media stakeholders during the just concluded
“We cannot win in the health sector if the media do not communicate positive health outcomes to the public and hold health authorities to account,” Hon. Chernor Bah said.
In an era of social media and information overload, fake news, mis and disinformation are undoubtedly worrying trends for the mainstream media. To address these concerns, the Minister C. Bah said that journalists should hold themselves accountable by providing the public with accurate, timely, factual, and credible information.
Representatives from Women in the Media Sierra Leone (WIMSAL) and the Guild of Editors having their say.
Media educator, who Chaired the occasion, Dr. Isaac Massaquoi, described the transformative shift sweeping through the media landscape as unrelenting, one that is making the ecosystem unrecognizable and tougher terrain for practitioners to operate. Dr. Massaquoi praised the Ministry for bringing together media stakeholders to discuss matters pertaining to improving health reporting and strengthening existing partnerships.
A cross section of media representatives sharing ideas during a group session at the town hall event
The inaugural event ended in a grand style with an interesting panel discussion on the topic; “changing the culture of health journalism, what role can the media play.” The panel discussion was preceded by an interactive group session, where Dr. Austin Demby was actively involved in exchanging ideas with media partners on how to root out fake news, mis and disinformation in health reporting as well as fostering enhanced collaboration.
