A recent study demonstrated that most people depend on media as the primary source of health information (WHO Ebola Response Team, 2014). Consequently, this contributes significantly to the improvement of fitness and knowledge among the public. The health messages come from different mass media channels based on the needs of the reader. However, such information falls under scrutiny due to allegations of its reliability and clarity to the audience processing the messages. Survey analysis indicates that the media coverage relies partially on statistics findings from reports published about medical trial results and disease incidences. Thus, they are bound to leave out some significant information relevant to the needs of the user.
The primary distinctive feature between media and scholarly piece is the content. The media article presents the advancement and prevalence of the Ebola virus while other cases of outbreak in Guinea are treated with a discovered vaccine (Botelho, 2016). Botelho (2016) argues that the Ebola virus is not a pandemic since it did not manage to spread throughout the world. The experimental vaccine arises as a discovery against the prevalence Ebola virus disease. The intervention follows the publication by WHO Ebola Response Team (2014) arguing that if Ebola was not handled as an issue of international concern, its prevalence would expand from hundreds to thousands of infected patients. On the other hand, the scholarly piece provides a rather detailed report of the research of the disease in Africa (WHO Ebola Response Team, 2014). This journal article applies quantitative models to determine the epidemics of the EVD by assessing 4507 cases of infections and deaths in 5 West African countries. It has an overall structure showing objectives of the experiment, methods, results and conclusion of the study. Furthermore, the article indicates the importance of comprehensive report on the disease detection, prevalence, and treatment. On the contrary, it shows various outcomes of sample tests carried out on some Ebola patients before and after their deaths. It also gives details on how the survivors are incorporated in the society after being declared free from the disease by the WHO (WHO Ebola Response Team, 2014).
However, the two pieces are quite important as they give their audience the compelling message on the Ebola issue. The most significance detail is creating awareness on Ebola outbreak and updating the public on developments in real-time, which keeps them or researchers on the outlook of this deadly virus. Consequently, they give assurance of the disease eradication through research efforts as presumed by the vaccine. Thus, the sense of hopelessness experienced earlier about the killer disease is eliminated.
The epidemiological approach to the study of diseases (health conditions) in population is partially covered by mentioning the 9 countries affected vaccinations made. However, it fails to explain the relationship between determinants and disease. Moreover, Botelho (2016) does not clarify on the frequency of disease occurrence in the populaces, which is important in determining how often the ailment attacks people at a particular time. Instead, it gives a general overview of disease incidence with minor details than then the necessary information.
The scholarly journal article is a quantitative research (WHO Ebola Response Team, 2014). It uses a combination of numerical calculations and statistics to determine the number people suffering from Ebola virus. Additionally, experiments have been done on the patients, and the establishment of necessary measurement to avoid the spread of the virus. In this study, the researcher describes and explores the relationship between the disease vector and its host, to explain what steps to take in eradicating the ailment (WHO Ebola Response Team, 2014).
Media coverage on issues of medical health is making a vast improvement in people’s knowledge about the topic of fitness. However, the public is encouraged to read widely especially from scholarly journals to get better information. Even though traditional media articles are less informative than academic ones, both are useful in passing information to their audience.
References
Botelho, G. (2016). Ebola: A new flare-up in Liberia, vaccines given out in Guinea. Retrieved from http://edition.cnn.com/2016/04/01/health/ebola-liberia-guinea/index.html
WHO Ebola Response Team (2014). Ebola virus disease in West Africa—the first 9 months of the epidemic and forward projections. N Engl J Med, 371(16), 1481-95. Retrieved from http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa1411100
