By Christine Muthoni

Amref International University (AMIU), a health sciences higher learning institution owned by Amref Health Africa has introduced a new Health communication and journalism course aimed at training reporters on factual oriented and evidence-based journalism in matters health.

With 40 years of training public health workers, AMIU, formerly, the Amref International Training Centre (AITC), aims at producing health reporters who will be able to carry out credible and accurate reporting especially on ethical, and the sensitive issues surrounding health journalism that have been lacking in health reporting.

This is in a bid to enhance accurate information flow on health issues, promote better coverage in rehabilitative, preventive, palliative health as well as serve to enhance and provide a deeper understanding on topical issues on health.

The technical support unit added that the training also aims at bringing a shift from basic health reporting to contextual and analytical reporting seeing that the journalists will be trained specifically on health reporting.

Prof Joachim Osur, Amref Health Africa’s Technical Director said, “With this, reporters are able to provide their consumers with in-depth stories on issues that matter to them.”

The course targets health journalism enthusiasts, interested public relations officers, health managers and any other interested persons who would like to gain a vast knowledge on health matters and quality health reporting.

The new course which is set to kick-start on the 23rd of March 2020, will range from modules covering topics on health communication, health policies, reproductive health, health advocacy reporting, information technology and health among others.

It is designed for a one-month duration period but is to be upgraded to post graduate diploma and Master’s degree levels within the next two years.