The Lagos State Ministry of Health in collaboration with the Lafiya Project, a UK Department of International Development (DFID) project has collaborated to train selected journalists in Lagos State on the COVID-19 response with the theme “Gender and Social Inclusion in COVID-19 Response: The Role of the Media on Thursday at the Lagos Chambers of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) Banquet Hall, Alausa, IKeja, Lagos.
The Lagos State Commissioner for Health, Prof. Akin Abayomi, who was represented at the event by the Incident Manager, COVID-19 Lagos Response, Dr. Ismail Abdulsalam, raised the alarm over a spike in COVID-19 cases.
He stated that since mid-October, the state has been experiencing a very sharp increase in the number of COVID-19 cases, with most of them requiring oxygen and intensive care.
He noted that “From the middle of October, we have been experiencing a very sharp increase in the number of COVID-19 cases and most of these cases require oxygen for them to remain alive”.
“This is worrisome because the situation now can be likened to what we experienced between May and June. Most of our new patients now require intensive care; also, the number of deaths is on the increase compared to what we had in early October.
He, however, expressed concern over the nonchalant attitude of residents towards the non-pharmaceutical preventive method, saying “most of our people, till now do not believe that COVID-19 is real and that is very worrisome.”
The Senior Special Assistant to the Lagos State Governor on Health, Dr. Ore Finnih in her opening remark stated that urged reporters to report preventive measures. She advised that media should focus more on the call to action policies rather than reporting just the figures so as to enable the people to see reason why they should adhere to the preventive behaviours of watching hands, keeping physical distancing and a host of others.
Segun Ogunyinka of the State Health Ministry coordinated participants to highlights 9 points to be taken into consideration by the media personals.
This include that the media should help to highlight and monitor the state of the people especially due to the new rise in cases of COVID 19, the media should help families in terms of economic and social relief or create awareness about them both in urban and rural areas. The media should educate the masses so that people can take COVID 19 seriously
Media should take a proactive step about educating the masses about the vaccination on COVID 19, and the media should sensitize the people about the immunization as regards to saving lives.
Government should empower all media houses; it could either be financial or structural (the government should create a path between media and civil societies
It is important to include disability dimension in prevention, mitigation and monitoring plans related to COVID 19; the isolation centres should have facilities for those living with disabilities
The media should focus on the slums around the country about their plights which people need to see and help them because they are very vulnerable to COVID 19, and the government should be engaged
Women should be aided and educated by the media to speak up on gender equality, and the media should do more in terms of women affairs
Structure security provision for media reporters
Government should aid the media with PPES because they are at the fore front of the pandemic
The government should create, manage and maintain database about COVID 19 and people living with disabilities
