In AHRI’s pragmatic initiative to have a clear evidence based flow of information in a digital age buzzing with mis/dis-information and info-demic, the research institute during the 8th and 9th of April 2021 held an interactive workshop dubbed, “Effective Health Research Communication Workshop with mainstream media senior editors.”
Pursuant to all protocol and health and safety measures with regards to COVID-19, the workshop was held at Adama, Ethiopia with attendance from senior media editors and reporters from mainstream media in conjunction with facilitators from the AHRI team.
The highlight reels from the successful workshop included interactive sessions that encompassed thematic areas such as;
- Research, ethics review and evidence.
- Media approaches to streamline knowledge translation.
- Media approaches to inform and impact the public regarding evidence-based healthcare practice including the COVID-19 vaccine roll out.
- The role of mainstream media in fighting the info-demic.
- Experience sharing from the media editors in combating mis/ dis-information in healthcare research.
- The role of mainstream media in streamlining effective community engagement for research to the public.
- AHRI’s approaches in disseminating its research outputs to the wider public both in Ethiopia and beyond.
The series of thematic areas were brought to life by group discussions, presentations and an overall way forward following the conclusion of the workshop. The success of the workshop was catalyzed by the free flow of knowledge sharing both from the media and AHRI team side.
The AHRI team, that facilitated the workshop included: Dr. Alemseged, Dr. Mulatu, Mr. Minyahil, Mrs. Bizunesh, Mrs. Dejyitnu alongside pertinent members of AHRI staff.
AHRI as a research institute acknowledges the critical role that media plays in relaying information and more-so the responsibility of editors who are curators of content in the media industry. It is to this end that AHRI extends collaborative partnerships with all media outlets both now and in the long-term with regards to engagements of the institute’s health research. Moreover, AHRI is looking forward to future workshops and press-release events with all the media outlets.
As a research institute we will continuously seek to provide the public with evidence based solution research in a manner that can simply be understood by the average Joe with terms free of medical jargon in order to propagate awareness in a simplistic manner.
