fraycollege of Communications is excited to launch the fellowship project, aimed at improving the quality of health communications on the continent. The Africa Health Communications Fellowship will bring together journalists and researchers from 6 African countries, South Africa, Nigeria, Zambia, Malawi, Ethiopia and Kenya.
According to fraycollege project manager, Brigitte Read, the fellowship focuses on “improving the collaboration between health experts and… journalists reporting on health topics” in addition to “media training for the health experts so they are better equipped to effectively share their expertise”.
Fellows will have online training and networking sessions, do an e-course on health communications, have a conference in Johannesburg and collaborate on stories. They will be able to apply for grants to produce collaborative stories.
Read said the call for applications has been received with overwhelming support. “We had almost 1500 applications… most of an extremely high standard. Two thirds of the applicants regarded themselves as health experts, one third identified as journalists,” said Read.”
She says this shows that there is a hunger on the continent for better health communications. “We did not expect such an overwhelming response to our call for applications, but it highlights the intense passion and appetite of healthcare professionals and journalists to improve their communication skills and there is a strong recognition of the huge potential impact that improved health information dissemination can have on the continent.”
