Fourteen weeks after I began my fellowship at the Daily Trust in Abuja, Nigeria, a new health section called Health Insight debuted on Tuesday, August 16, 2011. The launch of the new section, which is one of the two major components of my fellowship, was made possible through the support of the Daily Trust senior editorial staff, but more importantly, the seven journalists on the new health team I am building.

Participants at a three-day workshop on the dangers of smoking were shocked into silence as medical doctors, academics and activists churned out statistics and evidence showing how tobacco use has become the largest cause of preventable deaths in the world. They also heard that cigarettes were more addictive than cocaine.