Screening and panel discussion with a selection from the WHO’s “Health for All Film Festival” (HAAF), organized by our WHO Office in Burkina Faso with FESPACO and under the patronage of the Minister of Health in this country, Dr. Robert Lucien Jean-Claude KARGOUGOU.
The 29th edition of the Pan-African Film and Television Festival of Ouagadougou (FESPACO) takes place from February 22 to March 1, 2025, with the main theme: "African Cinemas and Cultural Identities". One of its objectives is to highlight the role of cinema as a vector for promoting intercultural dialogue.
The "Health for All Film Festival” (HAFF) created in 2020 by the WHO aims to stimulate the use of film to improve health, and there is a great synergy with FESPACO since we have received in five editions many short films showing various cultural identities in Africa. These African stories on health also allow us to talk about the impact of audiovisual language on individual or collective behaviors, and the public's perceptions of certain very real situations.
This HAFF session in Ouagadougou is intended to be a support from the WHO Office in Burkina Faso for the actions of the Ministry of Health of this country, in the implementation of its National Health Development Plan (PNDS) 2021-2030, in its component relating to the “promotion of behaviors, practices and environments favorable to health”.
This screening to raise awareness among the public and festival-goers present at FESPACO will be based on four short films among the 330 selected by our WHO festival since 2020:
- “The double burden of malnutrition”, a video report by Magali Rochat (Switzerland) on populations in Africa affected simultaneously by undernutrition and obesity, a major problem to be addressed in a context of free access to processed food products.
- "Theory versus Reality", an audiovisual testimony by Doctor Nanethida Nouanesengsy (Tahiti) of the therapeutic education association Asalée Polynésie. This testimony full of humor and gravity shows the importance for general practitioners to take into account the cultural and social determinants of health during their consultations with patients.
- “Trop Plein”, a fiction by Arame Sall (Senegal) showing the consequences of sexual violence on a woman’s mental health, long after the attack while she is at her workplace and did not think she would experience a wave of panic again.
- “Deep Silence”, a fiction by Beaucéjour Akodjenou (Benin) showing the psychological impact of protective measures against COVID-19.
Date and location of the screening: Wednesday, February 26 from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m., in the room of the Burkinabe Shippers' Council (CBC).