August IWMFWire
Media Campaign Begun by AWMC

Maisha Yetu Media Campaign to conduct indepth research in five countries

The African Women’s Media Center has launched the research phase of the Maisha Yetu Media Campaign for Our Lives. Maisha Yetu, which means “our lives” or “our health” in Swahili, is a three-year campaign to improve coverage of health issues in Africa. It is funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

The initial phase of the project will help determine the state of reporting on public health in Africa through research in five African countries – Botswana, Cameroon, Malawi, Senegal and Kenya. The AWMC has assembled a team of researchers, one in each country, with extensive backgrounds in the media, social science research and public health. The team is headed by Kwame Karikari, Ph.D., a professor of mass communications at the University of Ghana.

Researchers will conduct indepth individual as well as group “focus” interviews with four target groups — the media, public policy leaders, non-governmental organizations and the public — in each country. They will also gather information about other African countries and their experiences with health reporting. The purpose of the study is to establish a foundation of knowledge about the media and their attitudes and experience reporting on public health issues, including HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis. The next phase of the campaign will involve projects to improve media coverage of these issues.