By LUCKY MKANDAWIRE
About 30 local journalists have gathered in Malawi’s lakeshore district of Salima to discuss how best they can scale up coverage of diabetes and other non-communicable diseases (NCD) in the country.
The three-day gathering has been organized by the Journalists Association Against AIDS in Malawi (JournAIDS) and according to its Executive Director, Christopher Bauti, the training will result in the formation of a media team that will advance coverage of diabetes and other NCDs.
JournAIDS is implementing a primary diabetes prevention project in Malawi with financial and technical support from the World Diabetes Foundation (WDF) in Denmark.
“This is a three year project built on the need to enhance capacity and advocacy for the country to positively respond to the worrying epidemic of diabetes and other non-communicable diseases such as hypertension and cancer,” said Bauti.
He added: “And realising the vital role media plays in raising awareness on health challenges, we decided to bring together journalists to a capacity building workshop so that we chart the way forward on how coverage of these diseases could be enhanced in the country.”
This media training comes amid recognition of NCDs as a threat to human development and the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by the United Nations.
Non-communicable diseases, which include diabetes, cancers, chronic respiratory diseases and cardiovascular diseases are chronic, expensive and a major cause of poverty but largely preventable, according to UN report on NCDs.
Statistics indicate that NCDs are number one killer with about 35 million people dying every year, representing about 60 percent of all deaths globally.
In one of his speeches in 2009, the United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon described the global NCD epidemic as a public health emergency in slow motion.
http://www.nyasatimes.com/malawi/2011/09/22/malawian-journalists-discuss-diabetes-other-non-communicable-diseases/
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