Last Updated on: 1st November 2023, 10:58 am
Lira | With the clock ticking towards the festivities, the Yambala 4 Me campaign has engaged 26 journalists from across Lango sub-region.
The engagement happened on Tuesday, October 31, specifically on how best to promote health and safety risks ahead of festivities from December.
While tipping journalists in a one-day workshop held in Pauline Hotel in Lira City, Ms Easter Kabakunga, the head of the Yambala Campaign in Northern Region urged them to be courteous, cognizant and also preach the gospel of using condoms.
She urged journalists to wear face masks, seat belts, helmets, life jackets and any other protective materials during any activity that exposes life to sudden threats and death.
According to Kabakunga, the ‘Yambala 4 me’ ideally calls upon community members to be considerate of each other’s lives and embark on using condoms to control the spread of STDs, HIV/AIDS and pregnancy.
“We have invited you for this one-day workshop because we believe that the community listens to you the journalist most because they believe that whatever you air out to the public domain is a fact,” said Kabakunga.
Speaking to tndNews, Michael Oboke, a journalist attached to Voice of Lango encourages fellow journalists to aspire to inspire community members through accurate writing on health and safety risks that they can copy and paste in their day-to-day activities that tend to put their lives at stake.
“I urge my fellows to enrich and fully package our stories on health and safety aspects such that they can be well perceived by the community members by putting it into action,” said Oboke
Meanwhile, Robinah Joyce Ochaya of Radio QFM said that media is the best tool for female journalists and challenged them to always carry female condoms instead of only men carrying it always.
“Health is wealth so, women should not feel shy to buy and carry condoms. This is for their own safety and those that depend on them. In most cases, men carry condoms without fear but on the other hand, society tags different names like prostitutes on women who have the courage to carry with them condoms but this is an act of being health conscious.”
During the flagging off of the ‘Yambala 4 Me Campaign’ at UMA show grounds on Sunday, October 29, Gen Katumba Wamala, Minister of Works and Transport noted that while boda-boda cyclists are currently wearing helmets, over 1,400 boda-boda road crashes are registered.
“Boda-boda cyclists, please, don’t dress the helmet on the motorcycle! You’re not dressing the boda-boda, helmets are meant to be worn on the head,” emphasised Gen. Katumba.
This campaign now comes at a time when the Ministries of Health and Works and Transport put across their observation of persistent tendencies of people snubbing the use of protective gear while carrying out tasks that would expose life to sudden threats and death.
The ‘Yambala 4 Me’ nationwide campaign, a collaborative effort involving the Ministry of Health, The Aids Support Organisation (TASO), and the Private Sector One Dollar Initiative, among others, is underway with the primary aim of this 16-day regional outreach campaign to raise awareness and promote safety against road crashes and HIV/AIDS across the country.