Mercedes Sayagues is a Knight International Journalism Fellow who is building a network of health journalists in Mozambique with the skills to produce regular coverage of life-threatening diseases and health challenges. She created the first-ever health section at the influential weekly Savana, which features stories on issues such as AIDS, cholera and maternal mortality.

She is a journalist, media trainer and researcher who specializes in HIV and AIDS, health, gender, human rights and humanitarian issues. She is fluent in English, Spanish, Portuguese, French and Italian.

A South Africa-based media trainer and freelance journalist, Sayagues was chief editor of the Web-based information service PlusNews’ Portuguese service from 2005 to 2008. Supported by the UN, PlusNews is the largest source of news about HIV/AIDS in Africa. Sayagues built the news service, identified and trained a network of correspondents, edited their stories and produced her own, managed the Web site, published a quarterly magazine, oversaw production of rip-and-read radio programs, produced a training manual on reporting on AIDS, and developed partnerships with AIDS actors in Angola, Mozambique, Cape Verde, Guinea Bissau and São Tomé and Principe.

She was a freelance journalist based in Zimbabwe during the critical 1994-2001 period, reporting for South Africa’s Mail & Guardian, along with other news organizations.