Media urged to drive development

 By ZACHERY PER

DISSEMINATION of educational information through the media in partnership with development partners is the way forward for the future development of Papua New Guinea.

PNG Media Council president Joe Kanekane pointed this out at a one-day training on the national malaria control programme in PNG for journalists based in the Highlands and New Guinea Island regions hosted by Population Services International (PSI) in Port Moresby earlier this week.

The training was to equip journalists with factual and technical information on malaria issues and how different organisations were assisting the government to curb malaria threat.

Kanekane commended PSI for involving journalists from the mainstream media and added that it was important to partner with other organisations to address the development agenda.

He said malaria was a serious disease in PNG until HIV/AIDS emerged and had not been given much publicity.

“Children are vulnerable to malaria and it has been around for a long time. The serious efforts of important development partners like PSI and Rotarians Against Malaria (RAM) must be promoted to be success stories,” he said.

Kanekane urged journalists to report important health issues like malaria in simple terms in order for it to be understood by the public.

Under the malaria programme, PSI was working on a diagnosis and treatment strategy with monitoring and evaluation support for malaria to complement Health Department’s efforts in fighting the disease

Last year PSI supported on-site visits and training in health centres.