Disaster Response United States Project #46138

Information Saves Lives: Health Response Fund

by Internews

Project Report | Nov 9, 2022
Amplifying Local Voices and Accurate Information

By Lena Fulz | Sr Business Development Associate, Private Sector

The importance of quality, factual informationcannot be overlooked in a public health crisis. Internews and our Health Journalism Network remain committed to supporting journalists all over the world in both providingaccurate,up to date information about COVID19 as it continues to evolve, andcombatting harmful mis- and dis-information that is already in circulation.

More specifically, we’ve worked to amplify local voices on public health, address vaccine hesitancy across the globe, and continued to create and distribute resources to journalists to enable them to better report on public health crisis’ such as COVID19, Monkeypox, and others.

Because of your continued support, here’s what we’ve been working on since our last update in July 2022:

AFRICA

Leading One Health Session at the African Investigative Conference (AIJC)

The Internews Health Journalism Network co-hosted a collaborative training session on One Health reporting at the AIJC 2022. The One Health approach centers around achieving optimal health outcomes recognizing the interconnection between people, animals, plants, and their shared environment, and is seeing a rise in attention from editors and audiences. This training leveraged Internews’ in house expertise and media trainers, resources (including a free e-learning course), toolkits to showcase the powerful ways that journalists can adapt the One Health approach into their stories and future pitches. The session included virtual inputs from HJN members with experience investigating One Health issues in different regions in Africa. Attendees left the session with new ideas for fresh and creative approaches to health stories, access to resources and e-learning courses as well as the opportunity to become part of our global health journalism network.

Hosting Media Dialogue on the latest Ebola Outbreak in Eastern and Central Africa

WHO announced in mid-October that so far 39 people have died in the latest outbreak of Ebola disease in Uganda. There have been 64 confirmed cases and 20 probable cases, and 14 people have recovered from the disease. Authorities are conducting active follow-up of more than 660 contacts. This promoted us to hold a media dialogue on the Ebola outbreak that featured experts in the region to discuss the latest community conversations, misinformation, and rumors on social media that groups are tracking in the region on the Ebola outbreak.

EUROPE AND EURASIA

Addressing Vaccine Hesitancy in Europe and Eurasia

In partnership with John Snow International under the USAID-funded MOMENTUM Routine Immunization Transformation and Equity (MRITE) projectInternews is supporting media-related interventions to address vaccine hesitancy—both for routine immunization and for COVID-19—in a new project in select communities across Europe and Eurasia.

Countries in this region were among the most heavily hit in the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, both in number of cases and deaths per capita. Health care systemsstruggled to respond to growing caseloads due to weak infrastructure, slow access to vaccines, and widespread disinformation and rumors, which continue to contribute to low vaccination rates. The war in Ukraine has worsened the situation by increasing the number of refugees in the region and putting additional pressure on already strained health systems, along with increasing fuel prices andinflation rates for basic commodities.

The Internews Health Journalism Network (HJN) will spearhead the translation of the Let’s Talk Vaccine course in two languages and train journalists in North Macedonia, Serbia, Bosnia Herzegovina, and Moldova to produce evidence-based health reporting that highlights the importance of vaccination as part of overall health and wellness. The HJN will also increase opportunities for learning, peer support, networking, and facilitate access to health experts at the regional and global levels.

LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARRIBEAN

Facilitating Media Dialogue Between Western and Ancestral Medicine

Many Indigenous communities across Latin America and the Caribbean, as well as in other parts of the world, have strong ties to the environment and to ancestral knowledge. Theirperspective on health and wellness is deeply rooted in these beliefs and must be considered when promoting vaccine uptake for COVID-19 and other routine vaccinations. Journalists and health communicators have an important role to play infacilitating conversations between Western and Ancestral medicine experts. It is only by integrating these belief systems that lives can be saved and diseases can be mitigated. HJN Members in LAC promoted this type of dialogue among media practitioners and civil society organizations.

Offering Journalist Resources in the Spanish Language

Approximately 35 percent of the HJN Members are from the Latin America and Caribbean region. Having health media resources in Spanish is critical for equipping our members with resources they can use and draw inspiration from. We are creating a go-to page in Spanish that will be continually upgraded with media resources, online courses, and featured health stories.

WORLDWIDE

Hosting Twitter Spaces on Monkeypox and Health Financing

The Internews HJN held a Twitter space on Monkeypox with the Head of the Monkeypox taskforce for the World Health Organization, and other infectious disease experts, just two days after it was declared an emergency. Infectious diseases are contained and managed with financial resources, but journalists are often not aware of how these resources are raised, committed, and disbursed. A few days after the 7th replenishment conference of the Global Fund to Fight Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria, we held another Twitter Spaces conversation on this financing mechanism. We explored how it was used during the COVID-19 pandemic and how it can be leveraged as a financing model for managing future health threats.

We sincerely thank you for your donations, on behalf of our organization and the journalists serving their communities around the world. It wouldn’t be possible without you.

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Jul 13, 2022
Continuing Conversations Around COVID

By Erica Evans | Sr Business Development Specialist, Private Sector

Thank you so much for your support of Internews' work around the world in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Below are just a few examples of what your generosity has made possible:

Internews Health project launched to promote vaccine equity in Sub-Sharan Africa

Internews has formed a partnership with IMA (Interchurch Medical Assistance) and the African Church Health association (ACHAP) in a new 2-year project to help Promote COVID-19 Vaccine Equity through Faith-Based Networks in Africa. The project seeks to reduce the loss of life and spread of COVID-19 in Sub-Saharan Africa, contributing to global health security through targeted capacity strengthening of Christian Health Association networks.

Systems for Pandemic Preparedness Twitter Spaces Event

In June, the Health Journalism Nertwork (HJN) hosted it’s second successful Twitter Spaces event focused on health systems strengthening and pandemic preparedness. The conversation explored the question for journalists, “how do we move beyond the panic and neglect cycle of disease outbreaks?” Moderated by multi award-winning Nigerian journalist, Ruona Meyer, the event featured Dr. Aday Adetosoye from Management Sciences for Health, Dr. Sujatha Rao, former Secretary of Health in India, as well as Courtney Carson from the Pandemic Action Network. Read the highlights and find the recordinghere.

New HJN podcast: Social Media Listening

There is a lot of talk around “social media listening” these days, especially in the health sector as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and ongoing challenges like vaccine uptake. But, what does it actually mean and what are some of the inherent limitations of this practice? Hear this answer and much more directly from Irene Scott, Senior Humanitarian Community Engagement Project Manager at Internews who wrote her Master’s thesis on this very subject. You will come away with a much better understanding about the digital space. This is a two-part conversation of 15 minutes each. You can listen to both parts of this episode on the HJN website’s podcast page here.

Other activities included:

- Two South Asian Media Dialogues, one of which was held in partnership with The Accountability Lab and featured star guest, Dr. Maria Elena Bottazzi, a Houston, Texas, doctor who has been nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize. Dr. Bottazzi is part of the duo who have worked on a low-cost COVID-19 vaccine, CORBEVAX, for low and middle-income countries.

- A West Africa Media Dialogue featured with Dr. Mosoka Fallah, an epidemiologist an immunologist known as the virus hunter of West Africa, who did pioneering work in the Ebola response and now the Technical Assistance Team Lead for the “Saving Lives and Livelihoods (SLL) Programme” within the Africa Center for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC).

- Two Global Media Dialogues:

Unpacking Immunity (in May) featuring three top immunologists, who are also skilled at communicating complex concepts in their field: Dr. James E. Crowe, Jr., director of the Vanderbilt Vaccine Center; Dr. Jennifer Juno, T cell immunologist at the Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity; and Dr. Erica Saphire, professor of the La Jolla Institute for Immunology and lead for CoVIC;and
Unpacking COVAX (in March) featuring Dr. Seth Berkley, whom Time Magazine named one of the 100 Most Influential People in the World for his work at the Aids Vaccine Initiative (IAVI). Dr. Berkeley is now Gavi CEO and COVAX co-lead. This was a dive deep into the effort to provide equitable global vaccine access and to clarify common misconceptions.

- Two Eastern-European Media Dialogues on the role of journalists telling the vaccine story in a region where audiences seem to have tuned out. Read more.

- Even as the Russian invasion of Ukraine disrupted life and news flows in the region, in-depth vaccine related stories were produced via story grants and mentoring support in Uzbekistan, Belarus and Moldova.

Close to 500 journalists and partners participated in the events above.

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Mar 18, 2022
Inspiring and Amplifying Health Communicators Worldwide

By Agnes Chen | Senior Private Development Associate

Over the past few years, the world has endured significant loss and suffering. Despite these challenges, we see hope in the global community’s support of health equity and rights for the most vulnerable. In the past few months, your generous support has helped us to amplify important news reports and media discussions on public health and equity:

Women, Media, and Health:

On March 8^th, we celebrated International Women’s Day. On this important occasion, Chidera Aneka, a member of Internews’ Health Journalism Network (HJN) based in Nigeria, spoke with Paula Orlando, Internews’ Senior Program Officer – Knowledge & Gender, on how to achieve gender balance in the media. You can listen in on the conversation and learn more about this important topic, including practical tools for journalists and business professionals to advance gender balance in the media, in this short podcast session.

Your support has helped HJN to amplify important stories related to women and girls’ health-related rights, from El Salvador to Zambia:

“Manuela: Inspiration, Resistance and Hope”: An article originally published on January 4, 2022 on the FOCOS platform by Saúl Hernández Alfaro, HJN Member, Founder and Codirector of FOCOS TV.
“For Sexual Assault Victims in Ghana, Justice is Expensive – and Elusive”: A feature story originally published on February 15, 2022, on The World by Ridwan Karim Dini-Osman, HJN Member, Pulitzer Center Grantee, journalist and news anchor based in Ghana.
“Zambia: Women and Girls with Disabilities have a Right to Marriage Counseling”: An article by Mercy Banda, HJN Member, SRHR story grant winner.

Addressing Vaccine Hesitancy through Journalism:

The world still grapples with COVID-19 vaccine mistrust and concerns about their efficacy. This begs the question: How can journalists give unvaccinated people the information they need to protect themselves? Thanks in part to your support, we’ve engaged with public health experts and journalists on vaccine storytelling specifically aimed at those who are unvaccinated. Examples include:

Internews’ Online Media Dialog - a series of global and regional dialogs supported by the Sabin Vaccine Institute - recently hosted a media event for journalists in Eastern Europe. Our pandemic media mentor Artyom Liss moderated a discussion with journalists and partners in the region who are grappling with vaccine storytelling for audiences who have tuned out. Event participants left with practical, actionable advice to engage with these audiences, along with an opportunity to apply for a COVID-19 vaccine reporting fellowship.
In another podcast session, HJN Member Engagement Coordinator, Kathryn Cleary, also chatted with John Kinsman, a social and behavior change expert from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, to address the big questions about how journalists can better engage with unvaccinated persons in their reporting. Listen to their conversation here.

Through events like these, we aim to bring journalist perspectives from the field of risk communication and behavioral science – and to help journalists find new ways to write about the COVID-19 pandemic and the protection offered by vaccines. Thank you for your continued partnership on this important initiative.

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