Media urged to promote health issues that ensure long life

January 29, 2011
Anaji (W/R), Jan. 29, GNA — A day's workshop for media practitioners in the Western Region has ended at Takoradi, with a clarion call on the media to promote health issues that prolong the life span of the people in the country.

It was held on the theme: "Media draws strategic lines for 'Good Life' Promotion" organized by the Johns Hopkins University Centre for Communication Programs, with funding from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

The Western Regional Coordinator of the Behaviour Change Support (BCS) Project, Mr William Joe Adusie, said it is a four year project by the university to strengthen and improve behaviour change communication on specific health interventions and infrastructure development.

He said the project covers thematic areas such as maternal care, neonatal care and child health, nutrition, family planning, Malaria and HIV/AIDS prevention, water and sanitation, as well as Behaviour Change Communication infrastructural and capacity building.

Mr Adusie said the objective of the project was to partner with the Ghana Health Service at the national, regional and district levels, to work towards achieving health and related health Millennium Development Goals, through sustained and coherent behaviour change communication interventions.

The Regional Coordinator said the BCS would meet with market queens in the various market centres and share with them the concept of Good life in order to enable these market queens to serve as agents of change of the BCS project in the various communities.

He added that, weekly talk shows would be organized in markets, using public address systems to educate people on family planning, malaria and HIV/AIDS prevention, nutrition, child health care and maternal health.

Mr Adusie said the BCS project had trained community volunteers, who would go round to collect questions from people after community and market talk shows and provide answers to the people during the next talk shows, to ensure effective propagation of the Good life concept.

GNA