YEREVAN PRESS CLUB WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
NOVEMBER 17-23, 2006
HIGHLIGHTS:
“PRESS-CLUB+”: PPA DISCUSSING POVERTY REDUCTION AND EUROPEAN INTEGRATION
YPC MEDIA MONITORING: EUROPEAN NEIGHBOURHOOD POLICY AND MILLENNIUM CHALLENGE
ACCOUNT RECEIVE LITTLE COVERAGE WITH NO NEGATIVISM
DIGITAL BROADCASTING: PROS AND CONS
“PRESS-CLUB+”: PPA DISCUSSING POVERTY REDUCTION AND EUROPEAN INTEGRATION
On November 21 the twenty-second talk show of “Press Club+” series went on
the evening air of “Yerkir-Media” TV company.
The invitees of the program host, the Chief Editor of “Aravot” daily Aram
Abrahamian were the leaders of People’s Party of Armenia as guests, and NGO
and media representatives as experts. The TV discussion focused on poverty
reduction and European integration of Armenia.
It is expected that at 21.00, November 28 (next Tuesday) “Yerkir-Media” will
air another “Press Club” show where the representatives of media will share
their opinions on the issues of the day.
YPC MEDIA MONITORING: EUROPEAN NEIGHBOURHOOD POLICY AND MILLENNIUM CHALLENGE
ACCOUNT RECEIVE LITTLE COVERAGE WITH NO NEGATIVISM
On October 1-31, 2006 Yerevan Press Club monitored the coverage by Armenian
media of European Neighbourhood Policy and Millennium Challenge Account. The
monitoring was implemented under YPC project “Supporting Freedom and Quality
of Journalism and Directing Media Towards Urgent Issues”, supported by the
Open Society Institute. The study aimed at gaining and analyzing
quantitative data to determine the attention of Armenian media to European
Neighbourhood Policy and Millennium Challenge Account that Armenia is
involved in, including specific directions/priorities of both programs.
Monitoring covered:
4 TV companies – nationwide Public Television of Armenia (PTA First Channel)
and “Armenia”, covering whole or significant part of Armenia, “Yerkir-Media”
and “Shant” TV companies in Yerevan.
6 national newspapers – official “Hayastani Hanrapetutiun” and “Aravot”,
“Azg”, “Haikakan Zhamanak”, “Hayots Ashkhar”, (dailies); Russian-language
“Golos Armenii” (three times a week).
Monitoring objects were: all publications of newspapers above, the main
newscasts, news and analysis programs, and commenting programs of the TV
companies above, containing any references to European Neighbourhood Policy
and Millennium Challenge Account.
Monitoring conclusions:
1. News coverage at TV channels. The news coverage on TV channels that were
monitored displayed extremely low attention to European Neighbourhood Policy
and Millennium Challenge Account. The PTA First Channel allocated 3.2% of
the total number of pieces in news/news and analysis programs to the
subject; “Armenia” – 2.7%; “Yerkir-Media” – 2.6%; “Shant” – 1.3%. Overall,
of all 1,897 pieces studied in news/news and analysis programs 48 (or 2.5%)
were dealing with the subject: 17 – in full, 31 – partly. Most of this
coverage refers to European Neighbourhood Policy – 38 pieces (14 – in full,
24 – partly), whereas the Millennium Challenge Account was made a reference
to only in 10 pieces (3 fully dealing with the subject, 7 – partly dealing
with it). None of the issues of the weekly news and analysis programs “360
Degrees”/”Sunday Hailur” (PTA First Channel) and “Sunday Horizon” (“Shant”)
never addressed ENP and MCA, and the “Horizon” newscast (“Shant”) and the
news and analysis program “Yerkragund” (“Yerkir-Media”) in October only
mentioned the European Neighbourhood Policy. The references to both ENP and
MCA were in the pieces of the news and analysis program “Express”/”IT
Express” and the weekly sum-up “Sunday Express” (“Armenia”) as well as in
the main newscasts of “Hailur” (PTA First Channel), “Zham” (Armenia) and
“Yerkirn Aysor” (“Yerkir-Media”).
In the vast majority of cases the coverage of ENP and MCA was due to
official events (speeches of the Armenian leadership, meetings with
representatives of other countries, European Union, etc.)
“European Neighbourhood Policy” was in the camera focus due to a number of
events in October, primarily, the visit of European Union representatives to
Yerevan – Minister of Foreign Affairs of Finland Erkki Tuomioja, Minister of
State of Germany Gunter Gloser, the Head of European Commission Delegation
in Armenia and Georgia Ambassador Torben Holtze, the end of negotiations on
Action Plan for Armenia; the meetings of the RA President Robert Kocharian
with Torben Holtze, the President of Romania Traian Basescu, the heads of
diplomatic missions of EU member countries, where, among other issues the
ENP was discussed; the session of RA-EU Cooperation Committee held in
Brussels and the related press-conference of the RA Minister of Trade and
Economic Development Karen Chshmaritian.
The pieces had a purely reporting, general nature, they told nearly nothing
about the specific directions (the Action Plan priorities), with the
exception of the cases when the report characters noted the directions
themselves in a certain context. Hence, less than 10 references were made to
issues of regional cooperation (Armenia-Azerbaijan-Georgia), twice the
energy system reform was mentioned, in particular, the issue of Metsamor
NPP, and once – the Mountainous Karabagh conflict resolution process.
The events prompting the coverage of the Millennium Challenge Account in
October were, first of fall, the meetings of the RA Prime Minister Andranik
Margarian with the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairman Matthew Bryza, the Prime
Minister of Belarus Sergey Sidorskiy, as well as the working sessions held
under the MCA. No MCA specific directions were mentioned in the pieces.
2. Connotation of the TV channel news coverage. It is most noteworthy that
the pieces containing references to European Neighbourhood Policy and
Millennium Challenge Account were never negative in connotation. In other
words, these programs were mentioned either in neutral (32 references) or in
positive (16) context. The European Neighbourhood Policy received 24 neutral
and 14 positive references; the Millennium Challenge Account received 8
neutral and 2 positive ones. While “Hailur” newscast of the PTA First
Channel and the news/news and analysis programs of “Yerkir-Media” mostly
retained neutral tone, the proportion of positive and neutral references in
the news/news and analysis programs of “Armenia” TV and in “Horizon”
newscast of “Shant” TV had a greater share of positive references (8 to 6
and 3 to 1, respectively). The positive connotation of pieces was due
primarily to the fact it quoted opinions, statements of Armenia and foreign
representatives, assessing ENP and MCA favorably.
3. Commenting programs. The commenting programs “Fifth Wheel” (PTA First
Channel) and “Perspective” (“Shant”) monitored did not address the
Millennium Challenge Account and European Neighbourhood Policy at all. The
latter was only mentioned in the commenting programs of “Yerkir-Media” TV –
in the issue of “European Diary” and the issue of “Window” cycle that was
launched in October, when a film of European Commission Delegation in
Armenia on ENP was shown. Today “Yerkir-Media” is the only major Armenian TV
channels that has permanent awareness raising programs on issues of European
integration.
4. Print media coverage. As compared to the news coverage on TV channels,
the newspapers studied displayed even smaller interest to European
Neighbourhood Policy and Millennium Challenge Account. Except “Hayastani
Hanrapetutiun” that allocated 3.7% of the total number of pieces to the
programs, the newspapers did not refer to the subject even in 1% of the
publications: “Hayots Ashkhar” and “Golos Armenii” – 0.7% each, “Haikakan
Zhamanak” – 0.5%, “Azg” – 0.4%, “Aravot” – 0.2%. Thus, of 4,670 newspaper
pieces monitored, only 50 (or 1.1%) were dealing with European Neighbourhood
Policy and Millennium Challenge Account: 13 – in full, 37 – partly. Most of
these publications (32) appeared on the pages of “Hayastani Hanrapetutiun”.
Similarly to the TV channels, the coverage in the newspapers focused on
European Neighbourhood Policy – 37 pieces (8 – fully dealing with the
subject, 29 – partly dealing with it), whereas Millennium Challenge Account
was referred to only in 13 publications (5 fully dealing with the subject, 8
– partly dealing with it). MCA, however, was never mentioned in “Azg”.
Similarly to the TV channels, print media mostly addressed ENP and MCA in
case of official pretexts; such were the events of October as listed above.
The publications were mostly reports of general nature, did not mention the
specific directions of the programs, but for “Hayastani Hanrapetutiun”, who
gave a broader presentation of specific directions/priorities of ENP Action
Plan, in contrast to other media studied. Overall, 5 references were made to
the issues of regional cooperation and implementation of the program in
other countries of the region (Georgia, Azerbaijan) each; 2 – to the process
of Mountainous Karabagh resolution. Other directions of European
Neighbourhood Policy, besides those noted, were only covered in publications
of “Hayastani Hanrapetutiun”: “Strengthening of human rights and fundamental
freedoms, including freedom of expression and freedom of assembly” (4);
“Economic growth and poverty reduction”, “Rule of law and approximation of
legislation with European standards” (2 each); “Improvement of election
system and elimination of fraud”, “Policy implementation in other countries
and in general” (1 each).
As to Millennium Challenge Account, of all directions of the program two
references were made to “Development or regional communication networks
(primarily, rehabilitation of regional/rural roads”) and once each – “Loans
to farmers”, “Involvement of civil society (in general)”, “Improvement of
irrigation system”.
5. Connotation of newspaper coverage. Similarly to the TV channels studied,
the newspaper coverage of European Neighbourhood Policy and Millennium
Challenge Account were either neutral (42 references), or positive (8).
Positive references were made for European Neighbourhood Policy only:
positive assessment was given in quotations of officials and in only two
articles the positive context was conveyed by the authors themselves.
YPC Report on Monitoring Armenian Media Coverage of European Neighbourhood
Policy and Millennium Challenge Account can be viewed at in
“Studies” section.
DIGITAL BROADCASTING: PROS AND CONS
On December 22 at “Congress” hotel in Yerevan the draft program for
introducing digital TV and radio broadcasting in Armenia was discussed. The
event was organized by OSCE Office in Yerevan, Office of the OSCE
Representative on Freedom of the Media, and Open Society Institute
Assistance Foundation-Armenia in partnership with the RA Ministry of
Transportation and Communication. The discussion opened with speeches by RA
Deputy Minister of Transportation and Communication Vruyr Arakelian, Head of
OSCE Office in Yerevan Ambassador Vladimir Pryakhin, the Advisor of OSCE
Representative on Freedom of the Media Ana Karlsreiter.
The head of “TV and Radio Networks of Armenia” CJSC of the Ministry of
Transportation and Communication Ashot Simonian presented the draft program
on introducing digital broadcasting in the country. The document was
developed by an interdepartmental task force headed by Vruyr Arakelian upon
the commission of the RA Government.
Experts shared their opinions on the draft, too: Professor of Law at
universities in Estonia and Sweden Katrin Nyman Metcalf; head of Center for
Information Law and Policy, member of Information Technology Development
Support Council David Sandukhchian (Armenia); security and political analyst
Richard Giragosian (Washington, USA). In the opinion of experts, the
introduction of digital TV and radio broadcasting will be generally a
progressive development for Armenia. At the same time it was noted that the
draft program proposed has a number of serious deficiencies and omissions.
In particular, the draft stipulates to stop the licensing of analogue
broadcasting as of January 2007. This may result in a situation when during
the upcoming years the analogue TV and radio channels will cease from
existing and the digital ones will not have come into being yet. Besides,
the concept of “social package” is introduced, that is, subsidizing the
economically vulnerable groups to get a minimal set of TV programming –
public and private. The Government is to decide which of the private
broadcasters will be included into the package. This is a violation of
independent broadcasting principles. Such decisions should be made solely by
an independent regulatory body and not by the Government. It is also unclear
how the rights of consumers with regard to program content and diversity
will be ensured. The draft program also calls for significant budget
investment into state transmitting company, possibly creating a misbalance
between it and private transmission operators and resulting in a monopoly of
telecommunications market. In other words, these and other provisions of the
draft generally contradict the principles of fair market competition – in
terms of both budget investment and regulation, state policy in
telecommunications sector.
When reprinting or using the information above, reference to the Yerevan
Press Club is required.
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Editor of YPC Newsletter – Elina POGHOSBEKIAN
_____________________________________ _______
Yerevan Press Club
9B, Ghazar Parpetsi str.
0002, Yerevan, Armenia
Tel.: (+ 374 10) 53 00 67; 53 35 41; 53 76 62
Fax: (+374 10) 53 56 61
E-mail: [email protected]
Web Site:
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
Author: Emil Lazarian
Man, 36, Fatally Stabbed After Driving Dispute In Parking Lot In Van
MAN, 36, FATALLY STABBED AFTER DRIVING DISPUTE IN PARKING LOT
By Patricia Farrell Aidem, Staff Writer
Los Angeles Daily News, CA
Nov 22 2006
VAN NUYS – A near collision in a toy store parking lot led to death
for a Canyon Country man.
Wayne Allen Moyers, 36, just missed a car shortly before 10 p.m.
Monday when he was maneuvering a pickup truck in the lot outside Toys
`R’ Us, and he was fatally stabbed in a subsequent fight, Detective
Craig Rhudy of the Los Angeles Police Department said Tuesday.
Moyers, just leaving a 7-Eleven next door, quarreled with a group
of men from the other vehicle, and one stabbed him in the chest,
Rhudy said.
“A verbal dispute escalated into physical assault,” Rhudy said. “We
don’t know who was at fault.”
Moyers’ companion tried to rush him to a hospital, but he died on
the way. Police caught up with their pickup truck on Lindley Avenue
in Reseda. Moyers was found lying the bed of the pickup truck,
police said.
His killers were described as Armenian men in their early 20s who
drove away in a white SUV and a black Honda Civic or Accord.
Anyone with additional information was asked to call homicide
detectives at (818) 374-0040. On weekends or evenings, call (877)
529-3855.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
Rally Participants Want To "Clean" The Country
RALLY PARTICIPANTS WANT TO “CLEAN” THE COUNTRY
A1+
[03:59 pm] 21 November, 2006
Today the residents of North Avenue, Buzand Street, the owners of
Dalma gardens and the representatives of various parties organised
a rally of protest opposite the President’s residence.
“A broom was swinging” beside Robert Kocharyan’s residence. Mrs. Klara
claimed that the broom “had been brought to clean the country”.
“Kocharyan, go away!” shouted over 100 citizens opposite the
president’s residence. Some of them had posters with the following
words, “Civil Disobedience”.
The rally participants divided into two groups; one group assembled
at the entrance of “Baghramian” metro station, the other – opposite
the president’s residence.
“Are they afraid of women?”, wondered Susanna Haroutyunuyan, member of
“Armenian Women” Council.
Former resident of North Avenue Gohar Asatryan was indignant at the
news that Robert Kocharyan wants Serge Sargsyan to be appointed in
his post. People want neither Robert Kocharyan nor Serge Sargsyan as
their president. “People don’t want to be ruled by robbers”.
Alongside with other claimed, the rally participants demanded the
authorities to vote down the bill on “Alienantion of Property for
State and Public Needs”.
Ruzanna Ohanyan, one of the residents of North Avenue says that this
is an appalling bill which will deprive her children of the right to
property in the future.
“My children still want to live in Armenia. They don’t want to abandon
Armenia and they want their property to be protected by law”.
By the way, today the police forces could keep the strikers away from
the president’s residence.
Hardly had the strikers gone away, when the gates opened and the OSCE
Minsk Group delegation entered the residence.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
BAKU: Report Re Azerbaijan In NATO PA Security And Defense Committee
REPORT RE AZERBAIJAN IN NATO PA SECURITY AND DEFENSE COMMITTEE INCLUDED COUNTERACTION FROM ARMENIAN SIDE – AZERI VICE SPEAKER
Author: E.Javadova
TREND, Azerbaijan
Nov 22 2006
During the autumn session of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, the
report, regarding Azerbaijan in the Security and Defense Committee,
included counteraction from the Armenian side, the Vice Speaker
of Milli Majlis [Azerbaijani Parliament], Head of the Azerbaijani
delegation to the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, Ziyafet Askerov,
briefed the media, Trend reports.
“Issues such as the interaction of the South Caucasus countries
(Azerbaijan, Georgia and Armenia) with NATO, social, political
and economical situation in these countries and other topics were
presented to the discussions at the NATO 52nd autumn session. The
key issue for us was the territorial integrity and sovereignty of
Azerbaijan. We amended the report twice, and the 3rd report differed
somewhat from the previous reports. Therefore, we agreed to present
the report to the discussion. However, we expressed our proposals and
remarks regarding the report. The report reflected a number of issues
linked with Azerbaijan, especially counteraction from the Armenian
side and the exact figures of the occupied Azerbaijani territories
and refugees and internally displaced persons,” Askerov stated.
According to Askerov, the Armenians were angry when Azerbaijan
submitted the documents confirming that the Armenians arrived in
Nagorno-Karabakh 150 years ago and to confirm this fact we also
presented photographs of monuments erected in Nagorno-Karabakh. “I
consider that the documents submitted by ourselves played a significant
part and as a result the relevant document was adopted.
It is the first document adopted within NATO Parliamentary Assembly
and Security and Defense Committee. In future, we will try to adopt
the Resolution of the Parliamentary Assembly,” Askerov stated.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
Finance Ex-Minister: Policy Of Central Bank Against Priorities Of Go
FINANCE EX-MINISTER: POLICY OF CENTRAL BANK AGAINST PRIORITIES OF GOVERNMENT
Panorama.am
18:04 21/11/06
The current policy of the Central Bank of Armenia on strengthening
of the national currency is against the priorities of the government,
Levon Barkhudaryan, ex-minister of finance and economy who is now the
chairman of the review board of Armimpexbank, told a discussion today.
In his words, Armenia has always been known as an exporting country
but now the rate of the Armenian drams in relation to American
dollar negatively affects the export level and encourages import. He
said despite of strengthening of dram, prices of imported goods
do not go down. He said this is because of no competition in the
market. Barkhudaryan said further strengthening of dram may endanger
investment.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
2,700 Armenians Live In Cyprus
2,700 ARMENIANS LIVE IN CYPRUS
Armenpress
Nov 21 2006
YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 21, ARMENPRESS: Armenia and Cyprus established
diplomatic relations in 1992, March, however, first Armenians
established in Cyprus in the IV-V centuries. One of rulers of the
island in the 9-10th centuries was an Armenian.
Though Armenians have lived in Cyprus for centuries, the present
community on the island is mainly the result of immigration
during and immediately after the Armenian Genocide of 1915-23 in
Turkey. Currently, some 2700 Armenians live in Cyprus, mainly in
Nicosia, Larnaca and Limassol.
With the 1974 Turkish invasion and subsequent partitioning of the
island, the Armenian community lost significant properties, such as
the Makaravank and Kantsvor monasteries, a primary school and church
in Nicosia, and several other vital sites and assets.
The invasion also forced many Armenians to emigrate to Great Britain,
Australia and Canada. Armenians in Cyprus are mainly craftsmen, running
small and medium businesses, traders and government officials. The
community is governed by the leaders of the Armenian Church Diocese
and the National Council.
The Armenian language has always played a pivotal role in the
preservation of the Armenian national identity. For this reason,
organized Armenian communities in Cyprus always had their own
Armenian-language newspapers. Currently three newspapers are published
by the community and all major Armenian Diaspora organizations have
their branches in Cyprus.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
Americans Want To Live In Armenia
AMERICANS WANT TO LIVE IN ARMENIA
A1+
[01:53 pm] 22 November, 2006
There are 77 Americans working in the schools, Universities, NGOs and
medical institutions of Armenia. They are all representatives of the
Peace Corps who live in Armenia voluntarily for two years and help the
Armenians to better understand the American way of thinking in the
market, health, education and ecology fields. The volunteers of the
Peace Corps realize small projects costing not more than 5000 USD each.
In the Business center of the American University in Armenia the eighth
annual presentation of the Peace Corps organizations took place. Arshak
Hovhannisyan, the head of the business developing program in Armenia,
said, “Not all the programs are perfect. All of them have positive and
negative sides. On the whole I’m pleased with the programs”. He added
that the Peace Corps does not carry out large projects like the USAID.
US deputy Ambassador to Armenia Anthony Godfry who was also present at
the ceremony, mentioned, “This is the third fair I have had the chance
to work in. The presence of the NGOs here presupposes that the links
established are valuable. Today we will represent to you 77 citizens
of the USA who look for ways to work more efficiently in Armenia”.
The US Peace Corps was established in 1961 and aims at supporting
the people of other countries: helping them to better understand
the American culture and helping the Americans to better understand
those countries.
The Peace Corps has acted in Armenia since 1992.
During the last 14 years 529 volunteers have worker in Armenia.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
Europe’s Armenian Diaspora Collected 1.1 Million 100, 000 To Render
EUROPE’S ARMENIAN DIASPORA COLLECTED 1.1 MILLION 100, 000 TO RENDER ASSISTANCE TO KARABAKH
DeFacto Agency, Armenia
Nov 21 2006
~H 1 million 100, 000 have been collected in the course of a measure
Hayastan All-Armenian Fund held in the Europe’s countries.
According to the information DE FACTO got at the Fund’s Public
Relations Department, the representatives of the Armenian Diasporas
of France, Belgium, Holland, Switzerland and Germany participated in
the event. Current year over 13 000 families, the representatives of
the Europe’s Armenian Diaspora, contributed to the Nagorno-Karabakh’s
restoration.
Last year in the course of a similar measure ~H 976, 000 were
collected. 11 000 families participated in the event then.
To remind, a TV marathon targeted at promoting the restoration and
development of the Nagorno-Karabakh that suffered from Azerbaijan’s
aggression will be held November 23 in Los Angeles.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
BAKU: Matthew Bryza Not To Join Visit Of OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs
MATTHEW BRYZA NOT TO JOIN VISIT OF OSCE MINSK GROUP CO-CHAIRS
Today, Azerbaijan
Nov 21 2006
American co-chair of OSCE Minsk Matthew Bryza will not join the visit
of co-chairs to the region, US Embassy Public Relations Department
chief Jonathan Henick told.
The reason for his absence is Bryza’s tense schedule and celebration
of Thanksgiving Day this week, the most important holiday in US.
“Answering the question if another diplomat or the ambassador himself
will substitute Mattew Bryza, the ambassador answered that anyone
can substitute the co-chair, so only the co-chairs from Russia and
France Yuri Merzlyakov and Bernard Fasie will visit the region.”
It should be noted that, Merzlyakov and Fasie went to Yerevan
yesterday evening.
They will hold talks on the regulation of Nagorno Karabakh conflict
with Armenian President Robert Kocharyan and Foreign Minister Vardan
Oskanian, and will discuss the issue concerning the preparations
to the meeting of Armenian president with Azerbaijan president on
November 28 in the frame of CIS Summit. The co-chairs are expected
to come to Baku tomorrow.
URL:
COAF Conducts Community Health Ed. Classes in the Model Cluster
This is a multi-part message in MIME format.
PRESS RELEASE
Children of Armenia Fund (COAF) – Yerevan Office
53-55 Pavstos Byuzand Street, 375010
Yerevan, Republic of Armenia
Contact: Inessa Grigoryan
Tel: (+374 10) 522076; 562068
Fax: (+374 10) 522076
E-mail: [email protected]
Web:
Children of Armenia Fund – New York Office
162 Fifth Avenue, Suite 902,
New York, NY 10010, USA
Contact: Anna Sargsyan
Tel: 212 – 994 – 8234
Fax: 212 – 994 – 8299
E-mail: [email protected]
Web:
COAF Conducts Community Health Education Classes in the Model Cluster
Armavir District, Republic of Armenia, November 22, 2006 ¾ As part of
its Community Health Education Program (CHEP), the Children of Armenia
Fund (COAF) recently completed a series of educational classes in the
communities that constitute the Model Cluster. The Program included
ten-day training in first aid, healthy lifestyle, child healthcare,
hygiene and vaccination, prenatal care, prevention of cervical and
breast cancer, and management and prevention of common diseases. These
classes were targeted for teachers and community volunteers.
Additionally, six-day training was conducted especially for educating
the youth. Participants are expected to form active groups and, in
turn, conduct peer training in schools and community youth clubs.
COAF’s major partner in the implementation of CHEP was FIDEC (Fighting
Infectious Diseases in Emerging Countries), a US-based non-profit
organization operating in Latin America and Armenia. In collaboration
with FIDEC, COAF completed Microbac training to raise awareness of
nurses and teachers of issues related to hygiene and vaccination.
Subsequently, with the assistance of trained health staff and COAF
support, a number of events were organized for pre-school and elementary
school children, during which children became better-informed on these
topics through visual aids and various illustrative techniques. The
Program also included distribution of colorful books, which had been
translated into Armenian and published for wider dissemination by FIDEC.
On events day, the children had prepared short performances on these
topics and were awarded prizes for their participation.
Parallel to CHEP, a series of anti-smoking campaigns were launched in
Karakert and Argina, with the other four villages to follow in the
coming weeks. Presentations and performances by the schoolchildren were
devoted to discouraging both children and parents from smoking, provided
statistical data on the harms of smoking and examples of the health
problems from active and passive smoking.
_______________________
FIDEC (Fighting Infectious Diseases in Emerging Countries) is a US-based
non-profit organization that supports health care programs and aims at
fighting infectious diseases. Its members include physicians, scientists
and other health care professionals. FIDEC’s focus is on improving the
health of people in emerging countries by preventing and reducing the
adverse impact of infectious diseases through educational campaigns for
communities and for institutions.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress