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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 27, 2005
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For more information:
Erin Henk at (202) 496-1992
E-mail: ehenk@iwmf.org
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Journalists from China and Nigeria Win Public Health Fellowships from the International Women’s Media Foundation
Washington, DC – Chinese journalist Hu Yan of the Shanghai Star and Nigerian journalist Halima Balarabe of the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria will receive 2005 Public Health Fellowships from the International Women’s Media Foundation.
The six-month fellowships are an opportunity for women newspaper editors and radio producers who cover public health issues in selected countries to receive on-the-job training with U.S. media. In addition, fellows conduct public health journalism projects in their home countries.
Both journalists will spend the first four months of their fellowships at U.S. media companies. Hu will be based at The Philadelphia Inquirer and Balarabe will be at KQED radio in San Francisco. While in the U.S., the fellows will work with advisors at their host media outlets to create individualized training plans aimed at increasing their understanding of coverage of public health issues in the U.S. The fellows will also be doing research, interviews, filing stories and performing other work required of newsroom staff. For the last two months, fellows will return to their home countries to complete their specialized public health journalism projects.
Hu will be concentrating on raising awareness about HIV/AIDS through a series of stories on China’s Guizhou Province, an area with one of the highest AIDS rates in the country. Balarabe will be working on a 13-episode radio drama on HIV/AIDS prevention in Nigeria.
“his new fellowship grew directly out of the IWMF’s work around the world training women journalists,” said Larry Olmstead, IWMF co-chair. “For many years, the IWMF has worked on health journalism. For example, we are currently working with media houses in Africa to improve their coverage of HIV/AIDS, TB and malaria. This fellowship deepens our work and brings it to more journalists around the world.”
Hu Yan has been the health desk editor at the Shanghai Star, an English-language weekly, since September 2003. She also done public health reporting for the China Daily newspaper since 2000. Among other health topics, Hu has covered HIV/AIDS, cancer, avian flu and the SARS outbreak.
Halima Balarabe has been a producer for the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria in Kaduna since 1987. She is currently the principal producer of Family Line, a magazine program that covers various topics, including health. Balarabe has done stories on health issues, including HIV/AIDS, polio, measles and malaria for ten years. She is currently working to form a health desk at her radio station.
The Public Health Fellowship Program grew out of the IWMF’s Fellowship Program for International Women Journalists, which gives women journalists based overseas the opportunity to gain first-hand experience working in the U.S. media. The fellowship will begin in August 2005 and end in January 2006.
The IWMF Public Health Fellowship Program is supported by Foundation Open Society Institute – Zug, administered by the Network Public Health Programs, Open Society Institute.
The IWMF was launched in 1990 with a mission to strengthen the role of women in the news media worldwide, based on the belief that no press is truly free unless women share an equal voice. The IWMF network includes more than 1,500 women and men in the media in more than 130 countries worldwide. The IWMF is celebrating its Fifteenth Anniversary Year in 2005. For further information and an application, visit the programs section of the IWMF website, or e-mail fellowship@iwmf.org.
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