2024-03-08 17:14:51
The DRC was represented at the regional meeting in Lomé by the vice-president of Remapsen, Prince Yassa, and the coordinator of Remapsen-RDC, Constance Mananga, both journalists and members of the RJAE. Hosted mainly by Prince Yassa and Constance Mananga,
Opening the restitution session, the national coordinator of the RJAE, Bibiche Mwika, recalled the objectives of the first Lomé forum on child health which aimed to involve the media in the promotion of this health, vaccination and nutrition in Africa. West, Central and beyond. This restitution allowed participants to understand the crucial role of the media in the promotion of child health, vaccination and nutrition.
One of the two main facilitators of this restitution, Prince Yassa explained that the media are important partners in changing the behavior of the population in the face of new challenges in Africa. This forum, he added, brought added value to their way of working as journalists to save the lives of children.
«I left this forum armed, I have enough material. This training strengthened my abilities in writing articles of a human nature…”, he suggested. Comments supported by his teammate, Constance Mananga, who launched an appeal to journalists to work for the interests of the child.
Returning to the progress of the Lomé meetings, Prince Yassa stressed that this meeting produced important recommendations to improve child health. This is why it was recommended to governments to involve the national coordinations of Remapsen in the development and implementation of national strategies and operational action plans to combat childhood illnesses and promote vaccination as well as nutrition; to support the national coordinations of Remapsen in developing communication plans to ensure better promotion of vaccination and the prevention of childhood diseases.
Unicef, for its part, was called upon to facilitate the establishment of collaboration mechanisms; to facilitate the search for partnerships with other organizations involved in child health issues, vaccination and nutrition; to support the executive committee of Remapsen in its mission of coordinating and promoting vaccination and the prevention of childhood diseases in West and Central Africa, through training and capacity building sessions for journalists from the countries network members.
As for the Remapsen executive committee, it was recommended to monitor the implementation of these recommendations; to ensure that participants regularly produce media productions on the three themes explored, namely child health, vaccination and nutrition.
National coordinations, for their part, were called upon to support the child health programs of each country in their communication activities; to ensure the coordination and documentation of the media productions of the members of the network.
Presentations
Three themes formed the basis of this first forum on the promotion of child health in Africa, namely child health, vaccination and nutrition. The inaugural communication, moderated by Dr Alexandre Boo from the UNICEF regional office in Dakar, Senegal, focused on the state of child health in West and Central Africa. He explained the main childhood diseases in Africa, their causes, their consequences on the life and development of children and the actions to be taken.
The other theme, “Primary health care and community health for equitable access and quality of care”, was dissected by Dr Claude Ngabu, also from the UNICEF regional office in Dakar.
He demonstrated that vaccination remains essential to save children’s lives, recognizing, moreover, that even if efforts have been slowed down during covid19, Unicef and other partners are still working to catch up. children who have not been vaccinated during this period.
While deploring the high number of so-called zero-dose children in certain African countries, Dr. Claude Ngabu recognized that the introduction of new vaccines faces many challenges. Nevertheless, he said, the vaccine remains the safe and effective way to control and eradicate diseases such as measles, polio but also malaria in certain African countries which have already introduced this vaccine.
Another equally important theme on child nutrition in West and Central Africa was developed by the UNICEF focal point based in Dakar at the regional office. According to him, there is unfortunately significant growth retardation and wasting among children in West and Central Africa. The situation is especially catastrophic for children who are in war and conflict zones.
At the close of this forum, prizes were awarded to journalists and other personalities who have distinguished themselves in the promotion of child health. These are the Brigitte-Mopané prize for the best health journalists, the Thibault-Adjibodin prize for the best environmental journalists; Michel-Sidibé prize for the best country coordinations of Remapsen and special Faure-Gnassingbé prize.
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