Journalists and health advocates from across Africa are gearing up for a landmark gathering in Abidjan this November, where the African Media Network for Health and Environment Promotion (REMAPSEN) will host its 4th Media Forum focused on neglected tropical diseases (NTDs). The event, themed “Media Contribution to Positioning the Fight Against Neglected Tropical Diseases in Africa,” aims to break the persistent media silence around NTDs and elevate their status as a public health priority.
The forum, scheduled for November 25–27, 2025, will bring together journalists from 35 African countries, representing Francophone, Anglophone, Lusophone, Hispanophone, and Arabophone regions. This diverse participation underscores the continental scale of the challenge and the need for unified media advocacy.
According to Remapsen Chairman Bamba Youssouf, the forum offers “an opportunity to bring NTDs out of their state of neglect and place them among priority subjects in media information processing in Africa.”
Neglected tropical diseases are a group of communicable diseases that thrive in tropical and subtropical environments, disproportionately affecting poor and marginalised populations. Despite their significant impact, NTDs often remain underreported and underfunded, perpetuating cycles of illness and poverty. Experts emphasise that increased media coverage is crucial to raising awareness, influencing policy, and promoting research, surveillance, and treatment efforts.
The 2025 forum is supported by organisations such as Speak Up Africa and Sightsavers, with additional financial and technical backing from Brands on a Mission, led by Professor Myriam Sidibé. These partnerships reflect a growing recognition that collaborative advocacy is essential to tackling NTDs.
A highlight of the forum will be the Remapsen Awards, including the Michel Sidibé Prizes, which honour excellence in health and environmental journalism.
The event has attracted high-level support, with Mr Cissé Ibrahima Bacongo, Minister-Governor of Abidjan, set to preside over the awards ceremony, and Côte d’Ivoire’s Minister of Health, Pierre N’Gou Dimba, welcoming 70 foreign journalists to the city. Their involvement signals strong political will to elevate NTDs on the public agenda.
In a video interview, Mrs Line Renée Batongué, journalist at CRTV in Cameroon and Awards Director, recalled that these prizes reward annually the efforts of the best African journalists in health and environmental fields, as well as the most productive countries in implementing Remapsen’s activities.
Mr Agnéro Alphonse Renaud, in charge of NTDs at the Communication Directorate of the Ministry of Health, Public Hygiene and Universal Health Coverage, representing the Communication Director of the said Ministry, expressed the complete satisfaction of Minister Pierre N’Gou Dimba, President of the media forum, to welcome the 70 foreign journalists on the occasion of the media forum.
