The editor of ManoReporters, Kemo Cham, is set to participate in an expert panel discussion on Universal Health Coverage (UHC) in Abuja, Nigeria.
The discussion will be held as part of a Media Science Café on the sidelines of the 11th Biennal conference of the Africa Christian Health Associations Platform (ACHAP).
Mr Cham, an award winning health journalist, is attending as a participant of Internews, a global health media NGO and partner of ACHAP.
The Media Science Café is being held on the theme: “Achieving Universal Health Care: The Role of Science, Faith and the Media,” and it is supported by ACHAP, CORUS International and facilitated by Internews.
These organizations are collaborating in a Covid-19 vaccine confidence promotion initiative called ‘Promoting COVID – 19 Vaccine Equity through Faith Based Networks in Africa (CoVFaB).
Ruth Gemi, Project Coordinator of CoVFaB, said the Media Science Café aims to help journalists grasp the full extent of the challenge of UHC in Nigeria and Africa and unearth potential story angles.
“The open discussions will contextualize UHC and essential health care against the backdrop of broken and fragile health systems, the growing resource crunch for UHC, inadequate pandemic preparedness & climate change, together with the concerning rise of global and local inequities,” Ms Gemi said in a statement ahead of the event.
The ACHAP Biennial Conference will bring together faith-based member organizations from across Africa to deliberate on the theme of UHC, which is a global aspiration for people to have access to the full range of quality health services they need without financial hardship.
Experts say UHC has been stagnating since 2015 and without it, catastrophic medical expenses are pushing people into poverty.
The media science café will be held on Tuesday, February 27, at the Reiz Continental Hotel, the venue of the conference.
Mr Cham is Coordinator of the Health Reporters Network Sierra Leone (HRN-SL) and the Kombra Media Network, both of which comprises journalists who specializes in reporting on health. He served as Internews Health Journalists Network Ambassador for Sierra Leone between 2022 and 2023.
Cham will discuss current status of health coverage in Africa and what can be done to improve, as well as potential story angles from the session and the conference as a whole.
He will be on the panel alongside distinguished personalities that include Dr. Dennis Cherian, Associate Vice President and Senior Technical Director for Health and Nutrition at Corus International, Rev. Fr. Genesis Onah Agbudu, Veritas University, representing Our Lady of Fatima Hospital, Bwari, and Dr. Jaya Shreedhar, Senior Health Journalism Advisor, Internews.
Chaacha Mwita, Internews Health Journalism Mentor from Kenya, will facilitate the session.
