The Graduate School of Media and Communications of the Aga Khan University has trained communication specialists including Journalists on how best they can observe and undergo Health and Risk communication.
In this two-day training that was organized in Kampala, Journalists from different media houses and communications personnel from several entities were equipped with adverse knowledge, skills, and techniques on how best to package risk communication-related messages.
Furthermore, these were equipped with skills on how to overcome negativity bias, tackle fake news, and also mitigation strategies where they were trained to focus on changing people’s attitudes rather than behavior.
According to the organizers, there is a huge communication gap around vaccines, before and after their development and this is why they organized this training to equip communications personnel with skills on how to always close these gaps in times of health risks.
After their development in 2021, several debates around covid19 vaccines were raised worldwide which later turned into a catastrophe that needed communication experts to dissolve and later persuade members of the public to adhere to vaccination.
While highlighting the significance of messaging, training experts cautioned participants to mind what they say, how they say it, and when to say it, meet people where they are, not to persuade them, and also to practice sympathy and empathy while disseminating information.
In his submission, John Cliff Wamala the communications and PR officer at Uganda Red Cross highlighted that he was glad to be part of this training that has left him a better person.
“Remember Covid19 is still here with us, the training has left me in a better position to package engaging messages aimed at increasing vaccine uptake” he articulated.
Patricia Litho the board chair of Uganda Media Women’s Association noted that through this training, the media have had an opportunity to enhance their capacity for risk and health communication and she believes that from now on, this will enhance their way of reporting.
Regarding tackling fake news, participants were urged to do rigorous fact-checking via reliable fact-checking tools, encourage their audience to be critical consumers of information, accept ignorance, promote media literacy, and also not be seduced by simplicity.
