The Covid19 pandemic represents a major threat for African countries. Information and the contribution of journalists to strengthen citizens’ resilience to COVID is very important to mitigate the effect of the pandemic. The Pan African Health Information, Resources and Training Partnership (PAHIRTP) brings together the African Union, UNESCO and further partners with the aim to train and strengthen capacities of journalist in sharing of lifesaving information and debunk disinformation on covid19 and strengthen citizens’ capacity to make evidence-based decisions about their health, critically engage them to prevent the COVID-19 ‘disinfodemic’. The initiative builds on synergies capitalizing on resources, expertise, capacities and ongoing activities of the members of the partnership in line with the goal of the initiative. Activities in the frame of the partnership are organized around the following three components:
- Online Capacity Building and Training Program on Media Information Literacy and Pandemic with the case study of COVID-19
- The Pan Africa COVID-19 Media Hub and Resources centre
- Pan African COVID-19 Communication and Awareness Raising Campaign
The Online Capacity Building and Training Program on Media and science Communication: case study of Health is an online training program designed and implemented by the UNESCO and PAVEU covering the topic of “Health Communication Skills for Journalism”, “Online Health Fact Checking” and “Media and Information Literacy”