WHO training more journalists on coronavirus reporting

The World Health Organization (WHO) is set to partner the Word Federation of Science Journalists to help communicate the intricate science of the Coronavirus accurately as it evolves.

This is to help address communication challenges, which is a key to ending the Coronavirus pandemic.

Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the WHO in his opening remark at a media briefing on COVID-19 said WHO would continue to promote science, solutions and solidarity because it believed communication was best when done together.

“We are learning new things about this virus every day and journalists are critical to helping us communicate that information to the public in a way that saves lives,” he said.

The Director General said WHO had through its regional offices, organised webinars in multiple languages for journalists to counter misinformation and noted that more than four million people had enrolled in WHO’s training courses through the OpenWHO.org online learning platform.

Dr Ghebreyesus said a massive open online course for journalists covering the pandemic was created through a partnership between WHO, UNESCO and the Knight Center for Journalism at the University of Texas-Austin.

He said more than 9000 journalists from 162 countries enrolled in the online training, which was delivered in English, French, Portuguese, and Spanish.

The Director General said the course would soon be available in Arabic, Chinese, Russian and Hindi to help journalists communicate better.

More information about the online courses is available on the WHO website.