In an initiative by the Iranian Ministry of Health and Medical Education, and cooperation with the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance of Iran, UNESCO supported the week-long series of webinars on the occasion of the Media and Information Literacy Week, from 24 to 31 October 2021.
During the opening speeches of the webinars, which was attended by more than 400 participants, all the speakers reiterated the importance and urgency of Media and Information Literacy for all groups of the society, especially those marginalized and living in remote areas, in particular in the current pandemic, and accentuated the need for strengthening the capacities of users in this field as a key competency of the 21st century.
In his remarks, Mr Eynoallahi, the Minister of Health and Medical Education said: 鈥淭oday, covid-19 related news and information is a worldwide issue; therefore all the eyes are on the Media, everyone wants to have access to the latest information about this pandemic. This highlights the importance of conveying the reliable information to the public and to guide people towards a correct path鈥. He suggested that whenever there is a false information circulating, those in charge in the health sector, talk about the misleading information and provide people with reliable information.
Speaking about the background of the proclamation of the Media and Information Literacy week and UNESCO鈥檚 activities in this field, Mr Cvetan Cvetkovski, Officer-in-Charge of UNESCO Tehran Cluster Office highlighted that the new changes in the information ecosystem requires that strengthening of Media and Information Literacy competency be an ongoing effort rather than a single, one off training.
