Rabat: The Managing Director of the Sierra Leone News Agency (SLENA), Mrs. Lolo Thompson-Oguamah, has urged African news agencies to leverage their platforms to achieve public health sovereignty in their countries. She made these remarks at the 8th General Assembly of the Atlantic Federation of African Press Agencies (FAAPA) in Rabat, Morocco, focusing on the theme ‘Health Sovereignty in Africa’.
According to News Agency of Nigeria, Thompson-Oguamah, who served as Sierra Leone’s Media Lead in Risk Communication and Social Mobilisation during the COVID-19 pandemic and the Ebola Virus Emergency Preparedness Plan, highlighted the crucial role media play in safeguarding health sovereignty. She emphasized that health sovereignty goes beyond resource provision, involving the empowerment of people with knowledge and tools for informed decision-making regarding their well-being.
Thompson-Oguamah shared her experiences during the pandemics, illustrating the media’s indispensable role in strengthening health systems, shaping public narratives, and saving lives. She pointed out that the COVID-19 pandemic unveiled vulnerabilities in Africa’s healthcare and information systems. In Sierra Leone, the dual crises of Ebola and COVID-19 underscored the need for sovereign health systems tailored to unique challenges, with weak infrastructure and misinformation exacerbating the crises’ impact.
She stressed that the pandemics revealed how insufficient information led to unnecessary loss of lives in Sierra Leone, highlighting the media’s role in closing these gaps. Thompson-Oguamah argued that timely, accurate, and culturally sensitive communication is vital for crisis management, suggesting that the media are catalysts for public understanding, trust, and action.
Further, Thompson-Oguamah advocated for a multi-faceted approach to health sovereignty, emphasizing investment in specialised training for journalists and leveraging digital platforms to amplify accurate information and combat disinformation. She also called for gender-inclusive communication and partnerships among media, health sectors, and community leaders to achieve public health sovereignty.
The assembly also saw participation from other African news agency chiefs, including Malam Ali M. Ali, Managing Director and CEO of the News Agency of Nigeria.