Briefing of Journalists on Avian Influenza: Togo, July 2007

The United States Ambassador to Togo, David Dunn, requested a series of journalist training activities to educate and inform the leading Togolese journalists on scientific and accurate information on the H5N1 (avian flu) virus. The goal was that the series of activities would assist them in being better prepared to report accurately on the virus and outbreak situations, particularly the outbreak that occurred in early June 2007. Based on the request from the Ambassador, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) made available its global behaviour change and communication task order, AI.COMM, to conduct a series of training and media orientation events in Togo.

AI.COMM worked with the US Embassy/Lome, the Togolese Authorities, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) to organise a half-day press briefing for leading Lome-based journalists on Friday, July 6 2007.

The workshop was divided into two phases. The first phase addressed facts on avian influenza (AI), and encompassed one session on general knowledge on AI, and another session on the present avian flu situation in Togo and the other Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) countries.

The next phase of the briefing addressed the question, “What can we do to avoid avian influenza?” After the participants were divided into small groups, each group was assigned an issue for discussion and role-playing. The issues were as follows:

• what parents and teachers must do to protect children;
• what poultry breeders should do to prevent and control AI; and
• what consumers should do to prevent and control AI.

The last briefing session focused on the actions taken by the Togolese media since the confirmation of avian flu cases in Togo, as well as a discussion on the issues involved in accurate reporting on AI. At the end of the briefing, the participants were given documents with key messages on avian flu, as well as on bird flu coverage in the media.

Following this briefing, a media orientation workshop was organised by the Academy for Educational Development (AED) in Kpalime, the second-largest town in Togo, from July 11 to 13, 2007.