Media urged to desist from prioritising politics

THE Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services, Mr George Charamba, has urged the media to desist from prioritising politics and help the nation fight the cholera outbreak that has so far killed 21 people.

In an interview in Maphisa, Matobo District in Matabeleland South yesterday, Mr Charamba said it was time for media practitioners to summon their health communication skills instead of focusing on elections as the nation is past the polling era.

The Ministry of Health and Child Care has since declared a state of emergency over the cholera outbreak that has affected Harare and Masvingo provinces. Mr Charamba said the entire communication system should go all out to try and help the Ministry of Health and all health personnel combat the problem.

"As of yesterday we had 21 deaths, one death is one too many, life is too precious. I can't pretend to have competence in terms of the medical side of the challenge but I can confidently speak on our responsibility as the media when we have such a challenge," he said.

Mr Charamba said the media's role was to boost the community's capacity to respond and cope with cholera.

"If you measure the reality on the ground as far as cholera is concerned against the content of news, you are then struck by the discordancy between what is in fact a growing health challenge and a very happy messaging.

"People are dying yet when you look at our headlines or voices coming from our radios, it is all music, conflict news and there is very little that is coming up by way of messaging around health issues," he said.

According to Mr Charamba, the outbreak of cholera and typhoid which affected Gweru residents recently, spells a deteriorating trend of Zimbabwean hygienic standards.

"Whether you like it or not, this health challenge we are facing speaks a lot in terms of the level of hygiene in the country," he said.

"Yes, we can talk about broken infrastructure or the fragile health delivery system but more critically, the absence of those two need not necessarily translate into an outbreak."

Mr Charamba said the outbreak was triggered by the level of awareness around hygiene which exists within communities.

"I feel we have let down our nation as the media industry. We cannot continue to play music or keep the country riveted on politics, for which we know there has been closure, when people are dying. We have to shift the focus and concentrate on health issues and say community ABC, this is how you respond to the challenge."