By Alhagie Babou Jallow & Jainaba Kargbo
Following his bagging of an international appointment with the Africa Centre for Disease Control in Abuja, Nigeria, the director of Health Promotion and Education unit at the Ministry of Health (MOH) Mr Modou Njai has been expressing gratitude to colleagues at work and members of the media for a fruitful professional relationship.
To ensure a bifiting farewell to the press, Mr Njai on Wednesday, November 9th convened a press briefing at the Central Medical Store complex in Kotu.
He expressed delight for the opportunity to work with the Gambian media and thanked them for their cooperation throughout his tenure as a director of the unit.
He took the opportunity to thank the Ministry of Health and as well the Directorate of Health Promotion and Education unit for organising a memorable farewell for him.
He noted that the relationship between the Ministry of Health and the media reporting on health matters began in 2001, when the Health Journalists Association of The Gambia, was formed.
“Since the formation of the Health Journalists Association, media houses and journalists have been involved in different health-related activities. This made the relationship between Ministry of Health and journalists in The Gambia unique”.
Mr Njai therefore thanked members of the Health Journalists Association for their support and collaboration and appealed to the media houses and journalists to continue to support the unit.
Mass M Joof, acting Programme Manager for the communication unit; Gibril G Baldeh, Senior Health Communication Officer; Salifu Touray, Pradipta Ojha Representative of World Health Organisation (WHO) and journalists made similar remarks at the farewell event.
Dozens of media houses and journalists were awarded in recognition of their role and contribution towards the National Response on COVID-19 through the Risk Communication and Community Engagement (RCCE).