Media platforms should join the campaign to fight the dissemination of wrong health information, leading to confusion and deaths, the Permanent Secretary in the health ministry Dr. Diana Atwine has said.
Speaking about the launch of a social marketing conference aimed at increasing public awareness and access to health services, to be held at the Imperial Hotel on October 12-13, Dr. Atwine said those sharing wrong health information should be arrested.
Under the theme ‘fostering sustainable behavior and heath markets through social marketing’, the conference will focus on employing marketing principles to influence behavior for social good.
“It is a curse that we are losing mothers because they are not giving time for their wombs to recover, we need to talk good behavior,” Dr. Atwine said at the ministry of health headquarters in Kampala.
She added: “If you are sick, you won’t be able to do your business or have a productive life; the solution is not building more hospitals but behavior change communication to ensure positive health behavior.”
She also noted that Ugandans can learn new ideas and evidence-based approaches in the field of social marketing through ‘thought leaders’ like Nancy Lee and Philip Kotler.
