Group trains journalists on evidence driven sexual, reproductive health reporting 

The Initiative to Resist Institutional Slavery and Exploitation (IRISE) has trained Nigerian journalists on rights-based, evidence-driven reporting in Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR), with emphasis on translating data into impactful stories.

The two-day capacity-building workshop, themed “Rights-Based, Evidence-Driven Reporting in SRHR: From Data to Impact,” was held at Perfecto La Villa Hotel. It brought together reporters, editors and publishers from leading media organisations across the country.

Speaking at the session, IRISE Executive Director, Omodele Ibitoye Ejeh, said the programme was designed to encourage media professionals to critically assess how sexual and reproductive health issues are framed and how such narratives shape public perception.

She stressed that the media plays a central role in shaping societal understanding of sensitive matters, including abortion and the experiences of survivors of sexual violence.

“The goal is to bring media partners together to reflect on how sexual and reproductive health and rights are being reported and the kind of picture being painted, particularly around abortion rights and human autonomy,” she said.

Ejeh referenced the Safe Termination of Pregnancy guidelines introduced by the Lagos State Government in 2022 to guide service providers in protecting the lives of women and girls.

According to her, the guidelines were widely misunderstood and subsequently suspended shortly after their introduction. She clarified that the document was not legislation promoting abortion, but a framework to support healthcare providers in preventing deaths resulting from unsafe procedures.

“The guideline is not a law promoting abortion. It is meant to guide service providers on how to protect the lives of women and girls from dying due to unsafe procedures,” she explained.

She added that IRISE is engaging policymakers, community leaders and media stakeholders to build awareness and advocate for the reinstatement of the guideline.

“Our call to action is for the guideline to be reinstated. Lagos is a pace-setter, and when Lagos leads, others will follow,” she said.

Ejeh also called for deliberate efforts to confront stigma and victim-blaming in cases of sexual violence, urging society to prioritise accountability for perpetrators while ensuring adequate support for survivors.

Also speaking, Coordinator of the African Women Lawyers Association of Nigeria, Adesola Bello, underscored the importance of ethical reporting in cases involving survivors of sexual and gender-based violence.

She advised journalists to avoid judgmental language and ensure that coverage does not retraumatise survivors. Bello described SRHR from a human rights standpoint as the right of individuals to make decisions about their bodies without discrimination, access quality reproductive healthcare services, and enjoy bodily autonomy and dignity.

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“Ethical reporting should not be judgmental. Journalists should focus on the perpetrators and the offence committed rather than scrutinising the survivor’s actions or behaviour,” she said.

She emphasised the need to obtain informed consent before sharing survivors’ stories and cautioned against publishing explicit details that could lead to further stigmatisation.

Addressing challenges affecting the prosecution of sexual violence cases, Bello noted that stigma often discourages survivors from seeking justice.

“Sometimes it is not really poverty; it is the stigma survivors are trying to avoid,” she said.

She called for sustained sensitisation of law enforcement officers to ensure survivors are treated with dignity and respect, and encouraged victims of abuse to seek immediate medical attention or report to the gender unit of the police to facilitate proper investigation and access to justice.

In her presentation titled “Evidence-Driven Reporting: Using Verified Data, Research and Statistics in Stories,” IRISE Data Analyst and Monitoring and Evaluation Officer, Esther Udoh, highlighted the importance of grounding reports in credible data.

“Stories without data are just opinions. Data brings credibility and evidence,” she said.