MekongNews and AirParif: how is air quality measured and what’s its impact on health?
Related project
Mekong: Sustainable NewsTogether with its local partner Vietnamese Journalist Training Center (VJTC), CFI organized a training on air quality in Vietnam in both Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City in September for the ten reporters selected as part of the CFI and VJTC “scientific megastories” training cycle.
Now I know where to look for information about this topic, which decree governs the issue, who to ask about is, etc., says Hoang Yen, an editor of Nguoi Dua Tin (The Messenger) magazine. This training is effective and I got a lot of knowledge, that I can use now and keep, he continues. The 3 day nano-traning helped him to craft his story on Straw Burning published on September 21st, 2020.
Throughout the theoretic modules, the participants to the trainings could also enjoy field trips and visited PAMAir in Hanoi to better understand the measurements of air quality, as well as the the Vietnam France (VF) hospital in Ho Chi Minh to talk with Vietnamese and French experts about the impact of air pollution on human health.
Two training sessions were also organized with AirParif, a non-profit organization accredited by the Ministry of Environment to monitor the air quality in Paris and the Ile de France region (the capital city region) that was designated in 2016 to provide technical assistance in Hanoi to assessing the air environment status in Hanoi with the support of the Agence Francaise de Développement (AFD).
An expert from AFD also took part to the training session.
The experts we met during the training were very open-minded and provided a lot of useful information that we may have a hard time accessing,
explains Ms. Mai Trang, freelacer, blogger and collaborator of VNExpress.
As part of the MekongNews project, CFI has been collaborating with VJTC since 2019 to organize a specialized scientific training for Vietnamese reporters. In 2020, ten reporters were selected as part of the “Scientific megastories” training program, during which each participant will publish two megastories each related to environment and sustainable development. They can benefit of a network of reliable sources and journalism trainers and coaches during 6 months.
The MekongNews project is implemented by CFI in the Mekong region (Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam) and is supported by the Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs in France (MEAE).
