Health
RHU – AFP Train Journalists in Reproductive Health, Rights Reporting
Anicia Filda, RHU In – charge of the Gulu branch clinic says that journalists need to communicate well and more accurately about SRHR and family planning for people to have planned for children in their families.
By Rossana Acan
50 journalists from 40 media houses in West Nile and Acholi regions have acquired media advocacy skills.
Lillian Magezi Namusoke, one of the media training consultants says the skills acquired in formulating news ideas, developing them, pitching for news stories, interviewing, and writing stories can help the journalists write better stories about family planning, sexual reproductive health, and rights (SRHR).
“When media practitioners are trained and equipped with how to come up with ideas, write good stories and publish them, this helps the public to have an insight about what to think about,” Namusoke says.
Clement Aluma, a journalist with the West Nile Web located in Arua is optimistic the media advocacy knowledge acquired will help him pitch about SRHR issues, write evidence-based stories for the people to understand more about SRHR and family planning.
Aluma is among the journalists who were trained in media advocacy by RHU at Crane hotel in Arua city this week.
Jimmy Komakech, a journalist with Pacis frequency modulation radio in Gulu is enthusiastic that the ideas imparted to her during the SRHR and family planning media advocacy training have improved her understanding of SRHR and family planning, and this will enable her to form better news stories ideas, pitches, and stories for her media house. Komakech is one of the journalists trained in media advocacy at Flight View hotel in Gulu city.
“I now understand the sexual reproductive health and rights and methods of family planning. I can report about these ideas well in my day-to-day work as a journalist,” Achan says.
The media advocacy pieces of training in the West Nile and Acholi regions pooled together media practitioners and champions for two days with the support of the Advance Family Planning initiative (AFP), one of RHU’s partners in Uganda.
Anicia Filda, RHU In – charge of the Gulu branch clinic says that journalists need to communicate well and more accurately about SRHR and family planning for people to have planned for children in their families.
Christopher Opio Ateker, LCV Gulu district implores the journalists to become ambassadors of family planning and enjoyment of sexual reproductive health and rights in Uganda.
As the Gulu district political head he says, we are happy with the AFP partnership with RHU in training journalists to report about issues of reporting about family planning in Uganda, this will improve the quality of population we have in the Gulu, Acholi region, and Uganda at large.
