The director of the Navrongo Health Research Centre, Dr Patrick Odum Ansah, has urged the media to give maximum support to health research institutions in the country to enable them conduct research works successfully.
Dr Ansah said the role of the media was not only limited to the dissemination of researched material, but could also help researchers demystify myths and misinformation of research works – especially clinical trials – are shrouded in.
Speaking with journalists on the sideline of the centre’s 2021 performance review meeting on the theme, “Arresting the COVID-19 pandemic: The role of evidence generation”, Dr Ansah noted that misinformation was one of the challenges stifling the successes of health research activities in the country.
He stated that Ghana in time past lost some important vaccine trial opportunities, such as the Ebola vaccine, due to misinformation and other forms of myths.
Dr Ansah said the Ebola vaccine which had to be taken out of the country was successfully tried in other countries and has now been licensed for use.
He, therefore, appealed to the media to help educate and promote proper information on health research activities to allay the fear of the people when necessary, so that science can be more progressive in the country.
“Research, especially clinical trial, is shrouded in a lot of misinformation. I mean the kind of information that goes out helps or unmakes research works a lot. If you remember the last time there was a vaccine, the Ebola vaccine brought to Ghana, because of this same misinformation it was taken out of the country.
“But as we speak now, that vaccine was tried in other countries and it was very successful and now that vaccine is licensed and will be used when there is another break out of the Ebola disease. So, we need proper information out there in the public promoting our work, bringing out problems where there are problems and getting the communities to know what is being done to allay their fears.”
Senyalah Castro
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