Knight International Journalism Fellows collaborated with Measure DHS (Demographic Health Surveys) in Entebbe, Uganda, to develop tools that can be used to train other journalists to accurately report on health issues using data. The complexity of understanding health data, coupled with the thoughtful and sensitive coverage necessary when reporting HIV prevalence, makes training health journalists critical to improving public health in Africa.

Knowledge for Health wrote about the event on their blog.

Entebbe, Uganda – Leading journalists from across Africa have teamed up with international demography experts to train journalists how to report on important demographic and health data.

During a new regional training initiative, South Asian journalists from six countries created iPod Touch videos of farmers in southern Sri Lanka, where rising sea levels have increased salinity in fields and changes in rainfall patterns have disrupted the rice-planting season.

Climate changes have contributed to the farmer’s loss of income – but so have the drainage channels they dug initially to drain the fields, which now bring in seawater.

Bellagio, Italy—Journalists from across Africa announced the creation of the first continent-wide professional association of health journalists.

The new organization, the African Health Journalists Association, aims to improve the quality and quantity of reporting on health issues so that people across the continent can make healthy choices for their lives. The group’s media coverage will encourage the best possible public health programs and policies throughout the continent.