Training stresses media role achieve COVID19 testing campaign

Addis Ababa, August 17, 2020 (FBC) –The Ministry of Health (MoH) has offered training to media and communication experts to enable them deliver on their responsibilities for the success of the nationwide COVID-19 testing campaign.

The campaign, which was officially launched a week ago, sees testing 200,000 people for the virus in two weeks times and conducting a door-to-door survey covering 17 million citizens.

Speaking at a training given in Adama city, Nigusu Tilahun, Press Secretary at the office of the Prime Minister, said there is a huge gap in effecting the state of emergency declared to curb the spread of the pandemic.

He said corrective measures need to be taken against those who flout the rule, besides raising awareness as the pandemic continues to inflict heavy impact on the community.

The containment efforts carried out so far helped to prevent the virus from causing serious damage, he said, urging media and communication experts to do more  in engage the community in behavioral change for COVID-19 response.

Dr Tegene Regassa, public relations and communication director at the Ministry of Health, said the role of media was immense in the efforts carried out during the past six months to halt the spread of the virus .