CHORUS engages media in urban health systems

The Community-led Responsive and Effective Urban Health Systems (CHORUS) has engaged the media to strengthen their abilities to promote accessible, efficient, and high-quality health care in Ghana’s disadvantaged urban communities.

CHORUS Ghana is a multi-country partnership focusing on connecting communities, local governments, and health workers to support community-level life cycle, preventative policies, programmes, and services in urban disadvantaged areas.

Madam Ivy Agbenu Akushika, a Public Health professional, said the capacity development was intended to raise interest and strengthen the commitment of journalists to covering issues in urban health systems.

It was also intended to ensure the media kept concerns of urban poor health on the front pages and pressure lawmakers to enact laws that addressed the specific needs of the urban poor, particularly their health.

She said journalists were vital in highlighting key elements in a study paper and communicating health information in a readable article to broad audiences outside of the academic community.

Dr Ada Nwameme, a lecturer at the School of Public Health, University of Ghana, said the urban health system continued to experience rising rates of noncommunicable diseases.

This is as a result of social determinants such as high population density, inadequate infrastructure, lack of affordable housing, flooding, pollution, congestion, and poverty.

“55 per cent of the world’s population lives in urban areas and is set to increase to 68 per cent by 2050,” she said.

Thirty per cent of the world’s population cannot access healthcare services, and nearly two billion people face catastrophic or impoverishing health spending.

Dr Nwameme said urgency should be attached to urban health since it reflected the effects of the physical and social environment that impacted people and community well-being.

Dr Charity Binka, the Executive Director of Women, Media, and Change (WOMEC), emphasised that the majority of people learnt about medical advancements through the media, whether on television, radio, or internet.

She advised the media to be cautious in their mandate to disseminated health news, adding that “the problem stems from how journalists report and how the public interpret it.”