Media practitioners attend seminar on population

Accra, Feb. 9, GNA - Mrs Esther Yaa Apewokin, Executive Director of the National Population Council (NPC), has asked media practitioners to be circumspect and sensitive to the culture of the people when reporting on issues affecting them.

She said though media practitioners faced challenges like lack of timely and accurate data and inadequate logistics, they needed to do their best in the circumstances so as to avoid conflict with the people. Speaking at a day's seminar on Wednesday organised by Media Advocates for Population and Development (MADPA) in collaboration with the NPC, Mrs Apewokin acknowledged the media as a key partner in pushing forward the population agenda in Ghana.


She commended the media for its close relationship with the Council in promoting population issues through information sharing, thereby educating the general public on specific issues.

Mrs Apewokin said the Council, having been in existence for more than 10 years, had repositioned itself to manage population issues better by adopting a new vision to secure a better quality of life for Ghanaians through effective population management. She said for the Council to achieve that vision, it had outlined a number of activities as its strategic plan, which included collaborating with the media "to reach out to every corner of the country to propagate messages about population and development interrelationships". Mrs Charity Binka, President of MADPA, said the media had a critical role to play in disseminating news on population and family planning.


She called for more funding and assistance from the NPC and other well-meaning organizations to enable the group to go on field trips to access first hand information on real population issues, "so we can accurately report on issues and make the necessary impact". As part of the seminar, the group made a field trip to the Fevers Unit of the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital to interact with the People Living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) and the nurses. MADPA donated disinfectants, provisions, toiletries and cash to the Unit.