A special journalist training program was held in Bangkok on the importance of civil registration and vital statistics and data use in health reporting from 29th January to 1st February in Bangkok, Thailand. The program had been organized by the Vital Strategies which is an organization that works for developing a strong public health system for human kind. 19 journalists from print and electronic media representing seven countries; India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, China, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Philippines attended the three day workshop. Mr. Dilip Kumara Fernando participated the workshop representing the Sri Lankan Scientist Magazine.
The training program emphasized the importance of CRVS and use of credible data for health related reporting in media. The main vital events of life include birth, death and marriage and there are sub events of each that must be systematically registered as such records are important to establish the basic human rights of anyone. The significance of the issue was explained at the beginning as there are millions of persons in the world who do not belong to any nationality, who do not have access to basic needs like education, health and employment for survival. Since this is not well discussed within the media, it was emphasized that media has a role to play in smoothening the burning untold issues of fellowmen.
The workshop was successfully concluded meeting the basic objectives on creating the awareness of the importance of CRVS, data sources, interpreting the data in reporting and provoking participants to write stories on CRVS matters. Finally, it was linked with the achievements of UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. The resource personnel and consultants from the Vital Strategies and UNHCR were present at the workshop.
