Through a new health journalism association, Knight International Health Journalism Fellow Sunday Dare has begun a year-long fellowship through ICFJ to improve both the quantity and quality of health reporting in Nigeria.

As a Knight International Journalism Fellow, Sunday Dare has helped the Daily Trust, the most widely read newspaper in northern Nigeria, launch an eight-page weekly health section. He is working with a team of dedicated health reporters there to improve coverage of health news, and his trainees are producing investigative pieces that have led to better policies.

Four days after the Daily Trust broke news of an outbreak of the deadly lassa fever, the government announced it had distributed treatment vaccines as well as safety gloves and vests. After a story ran on women waiting as long as 18 hours to receive prenatal care at clinics, the government announced it would hire 1,100 more workers to alleviate overcrowding.

Dare is creating online resources on the paper’s website, including links to information on available health services and a comprehensive database of health experts. In Kano, where misinformation caused people to refuse polio vaccines and new cases of polio resulted, he is training journalists at Freedom Radio to produce health stories as he helps design a regular, interactive health program. Dare, who has done extensive research on citizen journalism, also will train citizens to use mobile phones to contribute photos and videos that can be incorporated into health reports produced by the Daily Trust.