From Desmond Mgboh, Kano
Media practitioners in Nigeria have been urged to set the media agenda on salient issues surrounding women’s health to bring their challenges to the forefront. The call was made by the Center for Communication and Social Impact (CCSI) during a one-day training for Kano-based journalists on media advocacy for women’s health, supported by Pathfinder International.
Oluyemi Abodunrin, CCSI Technical Advisor, Programme, emphasised the role of the media in improving women’s health by urging journalists to explore available data and put a human face to statistics. He suggested initiating discussions on women’s health issues and holding stakeholders accountable through investigative journalism and balanced reporting.
Abodunrin also advised journalists to combat stigma against women’s health, promote diversity, and ensure accuracy and balance in their reports. He called for a paradigm shift in media content, prioritising compelling health issues like women’s health alongside politics and economics.
Beevan Magoni, one of the facilitators, identified gender imbalance, stereotypes, and lack of diversity in health journalism as editorial issues in reporting women’s health. He highlighted challenges like limited representation, narrow focus, and lack of training for health reporters. However, he stressed the importance of intersectionality in women’s health coverage and the need for ethical reporting, respecting women’s privacy, seeking consent, and showing empathy.
Toyin Akande, CCSI Monitoring and Evaluation Officer, discussed existing policies for women’s health planning in Kano State that could enhance health reporting. These policies include the Health Sector Task Shifting and Sharing Policy (TSSP), Family Planning Policy, Kano State Health Financing Policy, Kano State Action Plan for Health Security (KSAPHS), Free Maternal and Child Health (MCH) Policy, and Policy on Building Capacity of Healthcare Providers.
DSekina Amin Bello, Senior Technical Advisor, Pathfinder Nigeria, emphasised the journalists’ role in facilitating the visibility of the women’s health project in Kano on their respective platforms. She noted that the one-year project focuses on key challenges affecting women’s health in Nigeria, including high maternal mortality rates, limited access to healthcare, and poverty. The project aims to identify factors contributing to good health outcomes for women in Kano and use the AFP SMART approach to develop advocacy strategies for improving their health.