The 2003 WHO Journalism Fellows are selected
18 June 2003 - Seven reporters have been selected to be this year’s WHO’s Journalism Fellows. The reporters will come to Geneva for two weeks to explore global public health issues. They will also talk to staff and use other resources at WHO headquarters to pursue their own research focus. The fellows will then be sent to a country of their choice to pursue their research topics in the field. The seven journalists are:
- Lina Botinaru is a reporter and news presenter from Media Pro TV Chisinau in Moldova. She will concentrate on tuberculosis.
- Haili Cao is the Shenzhen/Hong Kong bureau chief for the financial magazine Cai Jing. Her research focus is on the public’s access to health information in China specifically on SARS.
- Mohuya Chaudhuri is a senior input editor at New Delhi Television in India. Chaudhuri will be investigating the new role of public/private partnerships in global public health.
- David Kaiza is the health and environment writer for the East/African newspaper. Based in Uganda, Kaiza will explore why Uganda’s AIDS programmes have been such a success while malaria programs remain a challenge.
- Olayinka Oyegbile is the life section editor for the Daily Independent Newspaper in Nigeria. Oyegbile will use the construction of a new tobacco factory in Nigeria to explore tobacco marketing, deregulation and government enforcement of health measures.
- Valeria Romàn is a print and online staff reporter for the Clarin Newspaper. Romàn is from Argentina and her focus is on neglected diseases.
- Shankar Vedantam is a reporter with the Washington Post in the United States. He will examine the relationships between culture and mental health.
Nearly 200 applications were received for this year’s program. All the fellows were selected by an external panel of senior journalists which included Sheila Coronel, executive director of the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (Philippines); Peggy Girshman, a senior producer at National Public Radio (US), Paul Ismael Ouedraogo of the International Union of Journalists and the French Language Press (Burkina Faso); and 2002 WHO journalism fellow, Lisandra Braga Paraguassu, a reporter with O Globo newspaper (Brazil).
The WHO Journalism Fellowship Program is funded by WHO, the Open Society Institute, the Fogarty International Center at the U.S. National Institutes of Health, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.