Against gross misinformation and disinformation, media practitioners have been tasked to remain beacons of truth, warriors against misinformation, and health advocators to ensure no child is lost to preventable diseases in Nigeria.
The Executive Secretary of the Enugu State Primary Health Care Development Agency (ES-PHCDA), Dr Ifeyinwa Ani-Osheku, gave the advice on Thursday while delivering her keynote speech during the South East Zonal Meeting on Media & Immunization Campaign.
The programme, ‘Media: Our Most Potent Tool in Protecting Lives and Ensuring a Healthy Future,’ had as its participants partners from UNICEF, media professionals, and officers from the advocacy and communication units of Primary Healthcare Centers (PHCs) drawn from the states of Anambra, Enugu, Cross River, Kogi, and Benue.
Ani-Osheku regretted sobering statistics of children lost to vaccine-preventable diseases occasioned by myths and rumors, attributing it to the failure of the collective system and effective communication.
She described the upcoming campaign against measles to cover 24 states as critical, just as she identified dispelling misinformation, promoting positive behavioral change, and providing lifesaving information as key areas media must harness for a successful campaign.
She also highlighted consistency in building trust, leveraging influencers, storytelling with data, targeted messaging, and interactive platforms as strategies to ensure an effective campaign.
“We are here not only as leaders and advocates but as the very bridge between life-saving health interventions and the communities we serve.
“The media is not merely a conveyor of news, it is a lifeline for millions of families seeking information, guidance, and assurance about their health.
“Already, social media spaces are buzzing with misinformation and negative assertions, which, if left unchecked, could undermine years of progress in reducing child mortality from preventable diseases,” she regretted.
According to Ani-Osheku, around 2.5 million children still die annually from vaccine-preventable diseases globally, while Sub-Saharan Africa, where health systems are often fragile and bear the heaviest burden, accounts for nearly half of global child deaths.
She noted that in Nigeria, the under-5 mortality rate stands at 100 deaths per 1,000 live births, with preventable diseases like measles contributing significantly to this figure.
“Here in Enugu State, despite our progress, we continue to lose children to diseases that we know how to prevent and have the tools to combat.
“As we prepare to launch the measles immunization campaign, let us remind ourselves of the measles resurgence seen across the world due to vaccine hesitancy.
“Between 2016 and 2019, global measles cases increased by 556%, largely fueled by misinformation about vaccines. This is a pattern we must fight to prevent here in Nigeria, and the media is our greatest ally in this fight,” she stated.
