At the meeting, the West African Health Organisation (WAHO) will be engaging communication specialists in the West African health sector in discussions on how to strengthen and coordinate health communication in the region.

It is part of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) initiatives to ensure that only the right health information is shared on health issues to improve on health care in the region.

It is also to enhance the capacity of the journalists and the communication specialists on the operations of WAHO to boost health reporting and communication in the region.

There will be presentations on the health situation in the region, expectations of member countries and what they had done so far, the progress of implementation of some of ECOWAS’ health declarations and treaties, among other presentations.

The meeting is being sponsored by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

Network

The participants, including representatives from Ghana, are members of the ECOWAS Network of Health Communication Specialists, a network set up by WAHO to, among other things, increase awareness of the interventions and operations of WAHO to help improve health care in the region.

Fifty participants comprising head of communications at the respective countries’ Ministries of Health and their agencies as well as health reporters, are participating in the meeting.

It is the third meeting of the network since its inception in 2016.

The Network of ECOWAS Health Communication Specialists (NEHCS) has also been tasked with a mandate to support the WAHO’s communication activities in member states and across the West African region.

The network is expected to be the liaison between WAHO and the member countries to improve on information flow and transfer.

The ongoing meeting will also provide an update on the health situation in the region, various interventions made and review the challenges and successes of health communication.

WAHO Director General

In his remarks at a brief ceremony to open the meeting, the Director General of WAHO, Dr Xavier Crespin, noted that appropriate communication was key to quality health care.

He said with the recent occurrences of epidemics and endemics in the region characterised with rumours, it had become necessary to ensure appropriate information sharing in a coordinated manner, particularly on the real state of situations and interventions put in place to enhance health care in the respective countries.

Dr Crespin said despite the efforts of the regional body, it’s visibility was still very poor in member countries. He, therefore, expressed the hope that the network would help to make WAHO and its operations more visible to enhance health care in the region.

He said WAHO had conducted a number of health researches and instituted a number of health interventions which if well shared among member countries could enhance health care in the ECOWAS member states.

Dr Crespin said health communicators had a greater role to play in the implementation of WAHO Strategic Plan 2016-2020, which sought to ensure the building of a robust health system that would ensure quality health care in all member countries.

Minister of Health

In a remark on his behalf to officially open the meeting, the Minister of Health of Burkina Faso, Prof. Nicolas Meda, commended WAHO for championing quality health care in the region .

Underscoring the key role of appropriate communication in quality health care,he bemoaned the fact that a good message poorly or wrongly communicated could have adverse effect on healthcare just as a health rumour well conveyed would.

Prof Meda,therefore, called for the strengthening of the region’s health information dissemination system to safeguard the health of its people.