DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 16 December) – Two Mindanawon journalists have been chosen for the “Unblock Your Heart Journalism Fellowship on Managing Cholesterol and Promoting Heart Health.”
Bong S. Sarmiento and Cong Corrales of the Davao City-based MindaNews and Gold Star Daily (Cagayan de Oro City), respectively, are among the 20 journalists from the different parts of the country who were selected for the fellowship.
The fellowship is a partnership between the Philippine Press Institute (PPI) and Novartis Philippines “to highlight stories on managing cholesterol and promoting heart health.” Novartis is a Swiss medicine manufacturer.
The other fellows are Cristina Eloisa Baclig of Inquirer.net (National Capital Region or NCR), Dexter Aquino See of Baguio Herald Express (Baguio City), Madonna Virola of Radio Veritas Asia Online (Mindoro), Kyle Aristophere Atienza of BusinessWorld (NCR), Ratziel San Juan of Manila Standard (NCR), Mildred Gallarpe of SunStar Cebu (Cebu), Maria Elena Catajan of Cordillera News Agency (Baguio), Kayceen Valmonte of Rappler (NCR), and Marilou Guieb of Business Mirror (NCR).
The rest are Frank Cimatu of Mountain Beacon / Rapper (Baguio), Patricia Mirasol of BusinessWorld (NCR), Atty. Ruevivar Reyes of Southern Leyte Times (Leyte), Reymund Titong of Brigada News-FM Kabangkalan / Rappler (Negros), Ricky Bautista of Samar Chronicle (Tacloban / Samar), Mariela Angela Oladive of Daily Guardian (Iloilo), Ma. Theresa Ladiao of Panay News (Iloilo / Panay), Anne Ruth Dela Cruz of Business Mirror (NCR), and Ime Sornito- Sorial of Panay News (Iloilo / Panay).
During the online fellowship orientation last December 12, Dr. Janet Chavez, Novartis Philippines medical advisor, said there is a need to heighten heart health literacy in public, especially that fake news have found their way in health reporting and contents around the web and social media.
She noted that with proper heart health care, “no life should be lost too soon,” as she urged the public to take action in combating heart diseases.
“How can we help our patients, how can we help the Filipinos understand what are the little things we can do, the little changes that we can make in our daily lives that will slowly improve our heart health?” Chavez said.
One of the important things to do first is to know one’s cardiovascular risk by consulting a physician, she said.
Heart disease due to bad cholesterol problem is still the leading cause of death globally, Chavez said. (Ian Carl Espinosa / MindaNews)
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