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Media training organized by NIPN-Ethiopia concluded
ADDIS ABABA – March 14, 2025 (NIPN/EPHI) - The media training organized by NIPN-Ethiopia for local journalists with the objective of paving the way for the dissemination of accurate health information concluded yesterday.
Senior researchers from the Nutrition, Environmental Health, and Non-Communicable Disease Research Directorate (NEHNCDRD) of the Ethiopian Public Health Institute (EPHI) expressed the desire that EPHI, the technical arm of the federal Ministry of Health, is ready to collaborate with the media for the common good of disseminating fact-based information.
Dr. Endale Amare, Food Science and Nutrition Division Head with NEHNCDRD, said that EPHI has a number of research projects accomplished on health issues that need to be disseminated to the public. “We need you to work with us in revealing valuable information on health issues. Our close collaboration will help us all access and disseminate accurate information,” he said.
Dr. Aregash Samuel, lead researcher at the EPHI and coordinator of the National Information Platform for Nutrition-Ethiopia (NIPN-Ethiopia), said that the media training was planned to create closeness with the media in a bid to fight against misinformation and disinformation. “If we work closely, we can exchange information that is free from flaws. Information that is not based on facts may cause unexpected consequences. We organized the training to build a close relationship with the media and, thereby, combat the dissemination of false information. We all should collaborate to promote accurate health information,” she stated.
On the occasion Dr. Aregash discussed performances NIPN-Ethiopia has accomplished since its establishment in 2018. She stated that NIPN-Ethiopia has been exerting efforts to promote evidence-based decision making for nutrition and support the efforts to implement the national food and nutrition policy.
Environmental Health Research Division Head with NEHNCDRD, Zinabu Assefa, briefed training participants about the activities being carried out by the division. Zinabu also touched on issues related to public health and its difference with clinical medicine. He further encouraged the journalists to approach his division for information related to environmental health.
The three-day media training was delivered by two journalists and communication professionals working for NIPN/EPHI. Tekle Tesfalidet, a veteran journalist and content editor with NIPN/EPHI, discussed issues related to the principles of journalism, the Ethiopian press law, public health reporting, effective communication skills, journalism in public health, nutrition’s role in public health, defamation, fake news, characteristics of fake news, lack of credible sources and sensational journalism. Tekle emphasized that the young journalists should always consider the ethical and legal principles of journalism when working on their reporting.
Hailegebriel Endeshaw, a senior journalist and communications officer with NIPN/EPHI, discussed the issues surrounding public health journalism and its effects, effective interviews in journalism while reporting on health and nutrition issues, techniques for interviewing experts and affected people, how lack of preparation threatens reputation, investigative journalism on public health issues, journalism ethics in health reporting, photo ethics, fact-checking and practical skills, and how fact-checking works in health-related reporting. Hailegebriel further emphasized during the training that journalists should act responsibly while doing their reporting.
Closing the training event, NIPN-Ethiopia coordinator, Dr. Aregash Samuel said that NIPN would continue to create a platform where the media and health sectors come together to disseminate accurate reporting on health-related issues. “We do our best to establish smooth relationship with the media so that false and misleading information will not be disseminated. We are also ready to collaborate in supporting journalists to enhance their skills. That’s why we organized this media training,” she said.
Senior researchers, public relations experts from the EPHI, and local journalists who participated in the media training event pledged to strengthen their relationship in order to collaborate on offering and disseminating fact-based information. The mutual agreement between EPHI and the media emphasizes that both should assist each other in ethically providing and releasing accurate information.
Thirty journalists and public relations experts from both state and private media, as well as EPHI and sub-national public health institutes, participated in the training held in Adama Town. (NIPN/EPHI).
