By Mirriam Bwanali
Blantyre, June 11, Mana: Malawi Liverpool Welcome Trust (MLW) on Wednesday engaged media practitioners to build their capacity in reporting on impact of climate change on human health.
Speaking in an interview on the sidelines of the training, Communications and Media Engagement Coordinator for Malawi Liverpool Trust, Luke Manja said the training was part of a larger project being implemented in Chikwawa and Blantyre Districts.
“The Media being part of the community will be able to report around the impact of climate change on health. We are targeting community as well as media houses in Chikwawa and Blantyre.
"Climate change has a lot of impact on people in all aspects of their life especially on issues to do with human health. There are a lot of pandemics that come in due to climate change such as cholera and many others,” he said.
He expressed hope that the training will build media practitioners capacity to understand and report on the effects of climate change on human health which will trigger policy makers and stakeholder’s interventions.
In his remarks, Environmental Health practitioner, Enerst Takomana said in March 2023 Tropical Cyclone Freddy affected many people especially in the southern region districts, observing that some people in the region are still living with psychological effects of the impact.
"Climate change is becoming a public health problem and there are hazards like cholera, cyclones and many other disasters that started because of climate change," he said.
One of the participants, Eunice Kananji from Angaliba Radio and TV observed that the training was relevant to media practitioners.
“We usually focus on reporting actual disasters than on post disasters issues. The training will give us more knowledge on climate change and health related issues," she said.
reporters from various media houses such as Malawi News Agency (Mana) Angaliba, Times, Mzati, Malawi Broadcasting Corporation (MBC) and Blantyre Synod Radio attended the five days training workshop.
