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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 5, 2007
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For more information:
Lindsey Wray
(202) 496-1992
LWray@iwmf.org
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IWMF to Host Live Online Chat for International Women’s Day
Washington, DC – To commemorate International Women’s Day, the International Women’s Media Foundation will host a live online chat on its website, www.iwmf.org/chat/view/9845. Featuring participants in the IWMF’s Maisha Yetu project to improve health coverage in African media outlets, the chat will bring attention to the lives of women living with HIV/AIDS, TB and malaria and emphasize the importance of including the voices of women in the media.
The online chat will be held from 8 to 9 a.m. Eastern Standard Time Wednesday, March 7.
In line with the International Women’s Day theme, “Ending Impunity for Violence Against Women and Girls,” and because more than half of the journalists who participate in the IWMF’s Maisha Yetu project are women, the online chat will address violence against women and girls in sub-Saharan Africa and highlight the role of the media in covering it.
Hosts are Aulora Stally, Maisha Yetu project manager; Otula Owuor, Maisha Yetu trainer for Kenya, and Beata Kasale, Maisha Yetu trainer for Botswana. Owuor and Kasale will be joined by other officials and organizations from their countries, including:
- Sheila Tlou – Minister of Health and member of parliament in Botswana
- Maggie Mbaakanyi – Assistant Minister of Education, president, Women's Parliament Caucus in Botswana
- Mary Amuyunzu – medical anthropologist, African Institute for Health and Development in Kenya
- African Population and Health Research Centre, Kenya
The IWMF’s Maisha Yetu project was founded in 2002 with a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, to enhance the quality and consistency of reporting on HIV/AIDS, TB and malaria in Africa. Maisha Yetu means “Our Lives” in Swahili. For more information about the project, visit www.iwmf.org/africa/programs.php#maishayetu.
The International Women’s Media Foundation was launched in 1990 with a mission to strengthen the role of women in the news media worldwide. The IWMF network includes women and men in the media in more than 130 countries worldwide.
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