Nigeria

Nigeria: Giving Citizens in the Niger Delta a Voice on Health Issues

In Partnership With:

Daily Trust

Babatunde Akpeji is a Knight International Journalism Fellow who is building a network of citizen journalists to cover health in Nigeria’s Delta region, an area rich in resources but wracked by severe poverty.

Mar 222012

Health Journalists in Nigeria Take On the Sensitive Topic of Epilepsy

Health journalists at the office of This Day newspaper in Lagos have never published a health section before. But they have now, under the guiding eye of Knight International Journalism Fellow Declan Okpalaeke. In the first edition: a gripping story about epilepsy that pits a medical diagnosis against faith-based treatment options.

Program:

Nigeria: Launch New Multimedia Health Section

Nigeria lassa fever

In an Abuja hospital, people wait to hear if relatives had contracted the deadly disease.

Nigeria lassa fever rat

Lassa fever is spread through rat urine or droppings. Dried particles easily become airborne, and infect humans who inhale them.

Nigeria lassa fever

Medical workers test rats, who spread lassa fever, for the evidence of the disease.

Nigeria lassa fever

Checking for lassa fever: The virus was first discovered in 1969 when two nurses in Nigeria died from it.

Jan 102012

Christmas Day Bombings in Nigeria: How Violence Hampers Efforts to Expand Health Coverage

by Sunday Dare

It’s almost nine months into my fellowship in Nigeria, yet it seems like there is still so much to be done. Achieving more in the remaining few months will be less of a challenge if the country can find a way to better manage the snowballing religious and political crises. The Islamist terror group Boko Haram claims credit for much of the violence – and has not let up.

Nigeria: Launch New Multimedia Health Section

In Partnership With:

This Day Newspaper

Knight Health Journalism Fellow Declan Okpalaeke is an award-winning health and environmental journalist who is leading the effort to launch a Pan-African health journalists’ organization. The new continent-wide organization will offer training, resources, networking opportunities and assistance for cross-border reporting.

In the first part of his fellowship, Okpalaeke launched a four-page, weekly health section at This Day, one of Nigeria’s most popular newspapers.

In Nigeria, a country with staggering rates of preventable diseases, Declan Okpalaeke is creating a newspaper and online health section to hold Nigerian officials accountable for improving policies.

Nigeria Maternity Care

Rapid Response: Already 700 medical workers have been hired to handle the acute shortage.