As part of organizing the annual media forum, the African Media Network for Health and Environment Promotion (REMAPSEN) proposes to educate journalists from 35 African countries on the situation of neglected tropical diseases in Africa.
The event, which will be held under the theme “Media Contribution to Positioning the Fight Against Neglected Tropical Diseases in Africa,” will bring together African journalists from various language backgrounds in Abidjan from November 25th to 27th, 2025. The forum seeks to shed light on the issues surrounding Neglected Tropical Diseases and break the media silence on this important topic.
“organizing this forum is an opportunity to bring NTDs out of their state of neglect and place them among priority subjects in media information processing in Africa,” Mr. Bamba Youssouf, Chairman of REMAPSEN’s Board of Directors, said at a press conference in Abidjan, the Ivory Coast, on Friday, May 30.
African journalists from Francophone, Anglophone, Lusophone, Hispanophone, and Arabophone countries will convene in Abidjan from November 25th to 27th, 2025, to understand the stakes and challenges of neglected tropical diseases.
Mr. Coulibaly Zié Oumar, Executive Director of REMAPSEN, noted, “this forum aims to break the media silence surrounding NTDs.”
One of the highlights of the press conference launching the 2025 media forum was the participation of Coordinating Directors of national programs for combating NTDs in Côte d’Ivoire.
In turn, Dr. Djè Ngoran Norbert, Coordinating Director of the national program for combating neglected tropical diseases with preventive chemotherapy, and Dr. Dizoé, Coordinating Director of the national leprosy elimination program, briefed journalists on the NTD situation in Côte d’Ivoire before expressing satisfaction with the choice of NTDs as the central theme of the upcoming media forum. They all acknowledged the important role of media in community awareness and advocacy with public authorities and partners before committing to making the Abidjan gathering a genuine success.
REMAPSEN can organize this 4th media forum thanks to the technical and financial support of its partners, some of whom renewed their support to REMAPSEN for organizing this forum on the spot. These include Speak Up Africa and Sightsavers, two organizations heavily involved in the fight against neglected tropical diseases, whose support and endorsement statements were read during the ceremony.
On the sidelines of this forum, REMAPSEN will organize the 4th edition of the Awards endowed with the Michel Sidibé prizes, special envoy of the African Union for the Medicines Agency. 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 activity programs. The REMAPSEN Awards benefit annually from the technical and financial support of Brands on a Mission, whose mission leader Professor Myriam Sidibé has committed once again this year to supporting REMAPSEN.
In his address, Mr. Yao Daniel, Deputy Director in charge of press at the Autonomous District of Abidjan, expressed satisfaction with the choice of Mr. Cissé Ibrahima Bacongo, Minister-Governor of the Autonomous District of Abidjan, as President of the REMAPSEN Awards evening, which will take place on Thursday, November 27th, 2025, in Abidjan.
In closing this launch press conference, 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 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 on neglected tropical diseases.
