http://www.spc.int/hiv/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=81&Itemid=86
A regional workshop bringing journalists from ten Pacific Island nations to the Solomon Islands this month will focus on building a new Pacific media and health partnership.
The initiative, aimed at setting up short and long-term support for better communication of health issues in the region, is being organised by the Noumea-based Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC) through its Public Health Programme.
SPC has previously hosted regional media training courses focusing on reproductive health issues around HIV, AIDS and STIs (sexually transmitted infections) through its Adolescent Health and Development Section in Suva, Fiji. However, the new focus on encouraging Pacific newsrooms to strengthen their approach to other areas of health reporting is much needed, says programme organiser Nicole Gooch. Ms Gooch, SPC Communications Officer on HIV and STIs, is working with the Pacific Islands News Association, PINA, to run a workshop titled ‘Building bridges for better health communication’.
“Journalists have a critical role in creating debate and change around health issues affecting Pacific nations and we are keen to discuss how we can further support and strengthen their understanding and analysis of the many different aspects of health,” she says.
Ms Gooch is organising the three day event, which will be led by Pacific media trainer Lisa Williams-Lahari and local counterpart George Herming of the Government Communications Unit in the Solomon Islands. Key advisers from SPC, including its Public Health Programme Manager, Dr Thierry Jubeau, will be attending the workshop, to tell participants about regional responses to global health issues such as lifestyle diseases, reproductive and sexual health, dengue fever and little-understood infectious diseases that are a potential threat to the region such as avian influenza. Media ethics, gender issues, and a debate on the link between health journalism and development are also on the agenda for the three-day event. The workshop is one of the regional media training activities on offer at the biennial PINA conference (24–26 May 2007, Honiara, Solomon Islands).
