BENIN CITY — Twenty Nigerian journalists have completed a six-day field programme in Edo State aimed at strengthening the way health issues, particularly sexual and reproductive health, family planning and reproductive rights, are reported.
The Solutions Journalism Field Trip 3.0, known as Sojo 3.0, was organised by Nigeria Health Watch in partnership with MSI Nigeria Reproductive Choices and held from July 26 to July 31.
The programme took participating journalists into communities, primary healthcare centres and training sessions across Benin to examine practical responses to challenges in sexual and reproductive healthcare.
Rather than focusing solely on identifying problems, the training encouraged journalists to investigate interventions that are producing measurable results and examine the evidence behind those outcomes.
Organisers said the initiative was designed to help journalists produce evidence-based reports capable of influencing public discussions, policymaking and healthcare delivery.
Olubunmi Oyebanji, Senior Health Editor at Nigeria Health Watch, urged journalists to go beyond official statements when investigating success stories in family planning and sexual and reproductive health.
She encouraged reporters to ask practical questions about what is working, including why some healthcare facilities are able to maintain uninterrupted supplies of family planning commodities while others experience shortages.
Oyebanji also advised journalists against presenting family planning solely as a women’s or non-governmental organisation issue.
She said reporters should examine the subject through broader perspectives, including healthcare financing, supply chains, governance and service delivery.
She further encouraged the media to give greater attention to frontline health workers, medicine vendors, community members and service users rather than relying mainly on government officials and institutional sources.
According to her, solutions journalism does not mean ignoring problems or portraying every intervention as successful. Instead, it requires journalists to establish who implemented a solution, the resources involved, the leadership behind it, the evidence supporting its effectiveness and the limitations that remain.
She noted that successful interventions in sexual and reproductive healthcare could involve improvements in areas such as logistics, data management and supervision, rather than communication campaigns alone.
Oyebanji warned that encouraging people to seek services without ensuring that healthcare facilities have the necessary supplies could undermine public confidence.
She also stressed that improving adolescent access to reproductive health services requires young people to be involved in designing those services.
Another issue she highlighted was provider bias, which she said should be treated as a healthcare delivery concern rather than simply a matter of individual attitude.
She identified the cost and time involved in field reporting as major challenges to solutions journalism and suggested that media organisations consider partnerships and joint publishing arrangements to reduce expenses.
Oyebanji also called for editors and sub-editors to receive training in solutions journalism, noting that the approach should not be limited to reporters.
She said improving family planning and sexual and reproductive health outcomes in Edo State and across Nigeria would require stronger supply systems, respect for patients and increased domestic funding.
Omeche Enemaku, Regional Manager, South-South, MSI Nigeria Reproductive Choices, said considerable resources had been invested in the fellowship, including expert facilitation, field visits, mentoring and editorial support.
She expressed confidence that the participating journalists had acquired the skills needed to produce stronger stories capable of influencing conversations around family planning and reproductive health.
For Muhammed Ozigi, popularly known as Ziggis, the programme provided a new perspective on female reproductive health and opened up new professional opportunities through solutions journalism.
Another participant, Raphael Obasiohia, said interacting directly with women, men, healthcare workers and community leaders gave him a better understanding of how journalists could investigate responses to social problems rather than simply document the problems themselves.
Obasiohia said he planned to share the knowledge gained from the programme with colleagues in his newsroom as well as teachers and students.
Odunola Owolabi, another participant, described the training as practical and said it had improved her understanding of how to critically examine evidence-based responses to health challenges.
With the 20 fellows returning to their respective newsrooms, the organisers expect the experience gained in Edo to translate into health reports that highlight both existing gaps and the interventions being used to address them.
