Malaysian Media Get the Scoop on Avian Flu Reporting

This article details a two-day workshop organised by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) to inspire Malaysian journalists to report and educate the public about avian influenza prevention measures. To encourage clear and confident avian flu reporting, journalists were provided with a comprehensive and detailed understanding of avian influenza. The workshop then tested the reporters’ new skills and knowledge with exercises simulating a highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) outbreak.

Although Malaysia was declared free of the bird flu virus in June 2006, the workshop stressed the importance of national pandemic preparedness on the part of reporters, journalists and all sectors of society. According to UNICEF Malaysia Representative Ms. Gaye Phillips, "We cannot wait until there is a bird flu human fatality in Malaysia to educate the public on health and basic preventive measures. We must act now to provide the public with information, when the public has more power than anyone to avert a catastrophe."