UNICEF Puts Workers on Avian Flu Alert

In May 2007, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) held a two-day workshop in Barbados for journalists on “Strategic Communication for Avian Influenza and Human Pandemic Influenza.“ According to this article, various experts presented on the possible economic, environmental, and health effects of avian flu, while illustrating the role of the media in helping to educate the public about the disease. Under the guidance of ANDI (Agência de Notícias dos Direitos da Infância), a Brazilian media watchdog organisation that advocates children’s rights, journalists also developed a media guide for training other journalists.

According to Tom Olsen, a representative from the UNICEF office, “the media can play a key role in mitigating the spread of bird flu, if they know how to ask the right questions and how to help open channels of communications between themselves and sources of information on the topic.”