Angolan Health minister Sílvia Lutucuta has appealed journalists to help the authorities with promoting public health, by publishing trustworthy information that influence and change behaviour.
Speaking at the end of a training programme for journalists and opinion makers on Tuesday, Sílvia Lutucuta admitted that the social communication professionals play a crucial role in mobilising and changing behaviour in the fight against the coronavirus.
“We need and count more and more on the contribution of the journalists community to help us touch Angolans’ hearts, by informing the population on the existence and gravity of covid-19 in the country,” said the minister.
She recalled that the drop in cases of covid-19 infections in the country depends much on the level of information and knowledge the citizens can have about the disease, as well as people’s strict compliance with the preventive measures.
Achieving this challenge in Angola, Lutucuta added, requires a clear, true and effective message from the media.
According to the minister, the country’s health authorities are available to work with the journalists and opinion makers, by sharing the necessary information to spread sanitary literacy within the population.
Sílvia Lutucuta reiterated the need for all citizens to join the fight against the novel coronavirus, seeking to interrupt the transmission chain, protect the health of the families, and reduce the social and economic impact of the disease on the lives of the Angolan people.
In view of the rise in the number of positive cases of covid-19 in the country, Sílvia Lutucuta appealed to citizens not to stigmatise those infected and instead act in solidarity.
The training programme sponsored by the Ministry of Telecommunications, Information Technologies and Social Communication, was meant to equip journalists and opinion makers to promote a harmonised message that brings all citizens united in the fight against covid-19 that has so far killed 80 people in Angola.
During the training, the participants learned about the covid-19 projections for August and September this year in Angola, including the preventive measures required to curb the spread of the virus in the country.
According to projections announced at the meeting, Angola might reach 45,000 positive cases of covid-19 until September this year, should preventive measures not be strictly observed.
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