Animations can communicate wrong messages in health reporting – Health Expert

Dr Nii Nortey Hanson-Nortey, a Public Health Expert, has advised journalists to be cautious when using animations to tell health-related stories, as the public may misinterpret them as cartoons, missing the content and the expected impact.Dr Hanson-Nortey stressed that even though animation contents created by journalists?to tell health-related stories could be a good mode of information dissemination, the advice, was for them it was important to use it in the right context to achieve the needed impact.The public health expert however, encouraged journalists should utilise various media formats, such as video, audio, and infographics, to create engaging and informative health contents to create awareness among the public.He made the statement when treating the topic: 'Health Communication and Infectious Diseases,' during a training workshop for journalists of the Ghana News Agency.The training, which was under the Government of Ghana's post-Covid-19 Skills Development and Productivity Enhancement Pro ject (PSDPEP), focuses on advocacy reporting in health communication, gender, youth entrepreneurship, micro, small, and medium enterprise (MSMEs) promotion, and climate change issues.Dr Hanson-Nortey said reporting on health issues should be evidence-based, accurate, and in simple language to make it easily accessible and understandable, both as resource material and information for the public.He advised journalists to be sensitive and empathic about health issues they reported on, asking them not to rush to break health-sensitive stories but rather verify from the designated health officials for their authenticity and accuracy.He emphasised that in health reporting it was important for journalists to report stories devoid of jargon to make messages clearer and easy for the audience to understand.Dr Hanson-Nortey said the main objectives of health communication included influencing behaviours and attitudes, advocating for health policies, and gaining knowledge about health issues.He urged journalist s to build rapport with health experts, explaining clearly, the purposes of their interviews to ensure they received the right information needed, advising again that they pay close attention to the interviewee during the section to avoid repeating questions that had already been answered.Source: Ghana News Agency