By Ibrahim Joenal Sesay
September 05, 2020, (SALONE TIMES)
FREETOWN – Sierra Leone National Malaria Control Program in collaboration with Speak Up Africa and the Health Reporters Network Sierra Leone (HRNSL) converged on Tuesday 1st September, 2020 at the Catco International Hotel for the 2nd Official Malaria Media Coalition Meeting.
The 2nd official meeting of the Malaria Media Coalition is part of the “Zero Malaria Starts with Me”/ “Malaria e Don Wan Dae Na Mi Han” campaign. The event marked 6 months since the launch of the coalition and provided an opportunity to reflect on recent successes and challenges of reporting on malaria – especially in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic – as well as to work together to improve the efficiency and productivity of the coalition moving forward.
HRNSL National Coordinator, Swahilo Vandi expressed appreciation to members that organized the event through the support of Speak Up Africa and recalled that two years back, he initiated the idea of bringing journalists together to concentrate on reporting health. Vandi said the HRNSL was established to capacitate health reporters to be conversant with health terminologies or jargons before producing or writing cogent reports.
According to him, “We want a union that will reason together and come up with solution to the problem of malaria prevalence in Sierra Leone.” He described malaria as the disease killing more people in Sierra Leone than any other ailment.
Vandi fumed that malaria patients are being treated with lackluster attitude by healthcare workers and emphasized the essence of treating them with all the seriousness they deserve. He told participants that the Government and its health partners have demonstrated great commitment to eradicating malaria because, according to him, journalists in both the print and electronic media are prioritizing coverage on the disease.
Representing one of the donor partners, Catholic Relief Services (CRS), Dominic Lumeh said they are always happy to be in partnership with Government, specifically the National Malaria Control me (NMCP) and spoke about their long-time relationship with the Ministry of Health and Sanitation (MoHS). He added that CRS would be always proud and committed to working with NMCP in the fight against malaria and other life threatening diseases.
In his submission, Malaria Programme Officer of Speak Up Africa, James Wallen spoke on the importance of every member in society to play a role in the fight against malaria, adding that they wanted to see the progress Sierra Leone has made so far in the fight against the killer disease in the midst of the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. He however expressed disappointment with the manner in which the country is lacking behind in the fight to eradicate malaria.
Representing the MoHS, the Deputy Programme Manager of National Malaria Control Programme, Dr. Alhaji Sayni Turay said malaria is more dangerous than any other disease in the country and the world at large, noting that it is killing people on a daily basis in the country, especially pregnant women and children who are most susceptible and vulnerable to the illness.
He however confirmed that deaths by malaria and incidents are gradually decreasing as a result of the ongoing activities against the disease and thanked Speak Up Africa for implementing the ‘Zero Malaria Start With Me’ campaign.
Dr. Alhaji S. Turay applauded the media for their role in the fight against the disease, adding that said since the launch of the organization six months ago, they have done a lot despite the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic which, according to him, has slowed down their progress in the fight against the anomaly.
He furthered that there have been many challenges and successes in the fight to kick out the menace and therefore recognized the support CRS and Speak Up Africa have been giving to the coalition. The meeting was climaxed by the establishment of a new administrative structure that would control affairs of the coalition to the next level.
Speak up Africa James Wallen said that speak up Africa is a strategic communication and advocacy organisation that specialise on public health issues based in Senegal but they work in all Africa countries in many francophone and Anglophone countries. He explained that they specialise on vaccination and immunisation, tropical diseases, sanitation and malaria. Noting that the reason why they force on malaria because is one of the most dangerous diseases in the world especially in Africa over 90% of cases worldwide and in sub-Sahara Africa over four hundred thousand of people are dead from malaria and over two hundred million cases every year.
He noted that Sierra Leone is a high boarden country and there is million cases every year and it is Endemic to Sierra Leone and one of the most serious public health issues as compared to the rest of Africa. He added their current activities in fighting against malaria revolves around the campaign zero malaria starts with me and also they work in partnership with the National malaria control program and other partners such as the health reporter’s Network among others in order to raise the profile of malaria as an issue in the country. The fight against malaria is a fight we can win. Join the pan-African movement by declaring #ZeroMalariaStartswithMe and together we can put an end to malaria in Sierra Leone.
