As part of activities to mark the implementation of the Platform for Dialogue and Action on Health Technologies in Africa (Health Tech Platform), the Nouna Health Research Center (CRSN), on 25th February 2022 in Ouagadougou, organised an interactive meeting with news editors to seek the buy-in of the media.
The objective of the Health Tech Platform is to promote informed, objective, open and balanced discussions on the development and use of emerging tools and technologies with the potential to address health challenges in Africa.
The Health Tech Platform recognises the invaluable role the media can play in driving the discussions that the project seeks to promote. On this backdrop, the Platform has therefore embarked on a series of interactive sessions that will build the capacity of journalists and enhance their understanding on emerging health technologies and how the Health Tech Platform and other stakeholders are working to promote the development and testing of these technologies, where proven safe and effective.
The Director of CRSN, Doctor Ali Sié, underscored the importance of the meeting, indicating it was part of the advocacy efforts of the Health Tech Platform to enable the media to better inform the public about the emerging health technologies that are being developed in Africa. He particularly indicated that the media can help in using research results to better the lives of the people.
“We conduct research and working with the media will be so useful. The media can bring everything that happens in the field of research, everything related to research results to the attention and use of the public. We do not do research just for publication. We do research so that the results are used to improve people’s health conditions. This is what we must stand for in our work,” he emphasised.
The Project Officer of the Health Tech Platform in Burkina Faso, Dr. Charlemagne Tapsoba, also added to the important role the media has in the implementation of the project.
« This meeting is partly to understand the potential of these emerging technologies and to enable news editors to give out the right information to the people. The potential of these emerging technologies, among other things, is to make it possible to be able to deliver health products, making it possible to treat patients remotely and also making it possible to find solutions to the major diseases such as malaria and others that are ruining our health system,” he said.
Interesting discussions took place between the Health Tech Platform Team and the news editors. This was manifest in the contributions and questions from the editors. The editors pledged their commitment and support for the implementation of the project, indicating their readiness to create the appropriate platform for discussions and the necessary advocacy that will inform the public on the development and use of emerging health technologies.
This article was originally posted in French on faso7.com
