6OL .O UGANDAHEALTHCOM YAHOO COM Vol. 2, No. 4           ugandahealthcom@yahoo.com Â
!PRIL             7  May, 2009Â
2ADIO (EALTH *OURNALISM #OULD )T "E "ETTER Confused and Discouraged: My Community  Journalism 2EPORTERS 6ISIT -PIGI TO /BSERVE Project backďŹ red 6ILLAGE (EALTH 4EAMS
By Trephine Anecho
I thought I was bringing joy into families, but I brought tears.
I
n Panyago, aboutÂ ďŹ ve miles from Apach town in Nebbi district, I advised women to a=end antenatal services. In rural areas, 60% of women don’t visit health centers, and they are not allowed to go for antenatal services. I asked a number of women why. Many of them told me that their husbands say they were born at home by local midwives so they saw no reason for their wives to a=end antenatal care. Others told me they didn’t have money, and others claimed that the distance is too long. To my surprise, over 40% of women decided to a=end [Anecho knows theÂ ďŹ gure because, besides urging the women to a6end antenatal care in her broadcasts, she worked with an organisa8on that visited women to deliver that message in their homes. – ed]
-ORE 5GANDANS GET NEWS FROM RADIO THAN FROM NEWSPAPERS AND TELEVISION COMBINED MAKING RADIO POTENTIALLY ONE OF THE COUNTRY S MOST POWERFUL TOOLS FOR IMPROVING HEALTH 5NFORTUNATELY IT UNDERUTILISED 5(#! CONVENED A GROUP OF RADIO JOURNALISTS AND TWO SCHOLARS TO LOOK AT THE FORCES SHAPING RADIO HEALTH COVERAGE 3OME CONCLUSIONS BETTER PAY IMPROVED WORKING CONDITIONS AND INCREASED CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY WOULD LEAD TO HIGHER QUALITY 0AGE
/THER .EWS (EALTH ECONOMICS )N SETTING
BUDGET PRIORITIES POLICY MAKERS SHOULD CONSIDER NOT JUST THE BURDEN OF VARIOUS DISEASES BUT THE COST EFFECTIVENESS OF STRATEGIES TO ADDRESS THEM 3UCH ANALYSIS LEADS TO SOME SURPRISING RESULTS 0AGE
But the results were not what I expected. I met one 20�year old "EFORE WE CAST STONES ! lady – I’ll call her Acan (“I’m ever sorrowful� in Luo). I greeted her. GROUP OF COMMUNICATIONS But she didn’t reply in good faith. Tears rolled down her face as she PROFESSIONALS LEARNED AN IMPORTANT $URING A RECENT TOUR ORGANIZED BY THE 7ORLD (EALTH narrated her story. This is what she told me: “I wish I followed my Ms. Trephine Anecho LESSON ABOUT STIGMATISATION AT A /RGANIZATION AND 5(#! .46 REPORTER )RENE husband’s advice for not a=ending antenatal services. AUer going RECENT WORKSHOP IN 'ULU %VEN THOSE .AMYALO WATCHES AS A 6ILLAGE (EALTH 4EAM MEMBER for antenatal, they found me HIV�posiXve and they counseled me. WHO CONSIDER OURSELVES ENLIGHTENED PAYS A HOUSE CALL When I reached home, I met my husband. He asked me where I was CAN HOLD PREJUDICES WITHOUT KNOWING IT 0AGE coming from. On explaining to him, he was so eager to know the results. But when I told him, he was so aggressive, accusing me of I’m confused. I didn’t know that violence contributes to the .EW #ONTENT -ANAGER having brought the virus. He started beaXng 6INCENT !KUMU IS JOINING 5(#! AS OUR CONTENT MANAGER ! me and kicking me.� spread of HIV or AIDS – and that HIV and AIDS contribute GRADUATE OF -AKERERE 5NIVERSITY WITH A BACHELOR S DEGREE IN ,IBRARY AND )NFORMATION 3CIENCES Acan showed me her scars, but she didn’t want to talk to me in a to violence. I thought it would be right for women to visit 6INCENT WILL HELP DESIGN AND MANAGE A WEBSITE FOR 5(#! (E ALSO WILL PLAY A BIG ROLE IN PUTTING good way. I leU her on the roadside. health centers, especially when they are pregnant. Violence OUT THIS NEWSLETTER AND IN TRACKING DOWN BACKGROUND RESOURCES RELATED TO OUR WORKSHOPS AND against women and HIV/AIDS are supposedly linked, and yet OTHER HEALTH ISSUES 7ELCOME 6INCENT I decided to go to antenatal care with another lady, “AXmago� li=le a=enXon has been paid to violence against women in (“What will I do?�). Nineteen years old and 18�weeks pregnant, she HIV/AIDS programming. I like helping the community. But I’m ! NEW FELLOWSHIP OPPORTUNITY PLUS A NEW MALARIA RESOURCE 0AGE broke down in tears on seeing me, telling me to go away. When she gecng discouraged. told her husband about her test results, he chased her. He told her never to come back to his home again. He beat her severely. Now, Trephine Anecho is a Presenter/Reporter with Radio Paidha she doesn’t have anywhere to go. She told me to just leave the roadway. Then she chased me. I met a lot of women who told me all What would you do if you were Trephine? For reacGons and types of names, saying that I was causing them a hard life. resources, see Page 2
Also in this issue: Resources: Antenatal care, HIV tesXng, Gender relaXons and Malaria‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌.Page 2 News: Malaria, Oscar van Leer Fellowships.....................................................................Page 3 Come, Volunteer, Learn: ParXcipaXng in UHCA acXviXes is a learning opportunity‌.Page 4Â
Uganda Health CommunicaGon Alliance P.O Box 28245, Kampala, Uganda Phone +256 414 669523Â
Is it the Journalist’s Fault?
Resources
By Agnes Asiimwe
I
n advising women to go for antenatal care, Trephine Anecho of Radio Paidha only meant to promote health in her community but violence is what some members of her audience reaped. Is it her fault that things turned out badly in the homes? Could she have done more to minimise the harm? “I wouldn’t blame her at all. Maybe somebody needs to supplement her efforts, like the organisaXons working in HIV in Paidha. Antenatal care and an HIV test help both the mother and the baby,” said Mr Alex Atuhaire, news editor, the Daily Monitor. In fact, Atuhaire believes that Anecho deserves an award for tackling such an issue. “Target the men,” Ms Florence Buluba, a Programme Officer with the InternaXonal Community of Women with HIV/AIDS advises journalists, “because it is not bad for someone to know their HIV status.” Buluba says the problem stems from Uganda’s patriarchal society. In a male‐ dominated society, a wife who has to break such news to her husband oUen risks such violence. “It is a big challenge that we need to address because our culture promotes the male ego,” said Ms Buluba. Usually, men don’t go with their wives for antenatal care. At the antenatal clinics women are counseled, tested and given HIV results. As a result, they are the ones to deliver the news to their unprepared male partners. In many cases, men react by quickly blaming their partners for bringing the disease. Buluba notes that even aUer science has proven that circumcision lowers chances of catching STDs, women have to seek the consent of their partners before gecng children circumcised, some of whom refuse outright. Uganda Health Reporter
Buluba advises journalists to have a good grasp of their subject and gather all the facts. “Anecho should have approached it by asking, how can the men get involved?” she said, and added, “if they [men] cooperated with their wives by going along for antenatal, if they agreed to voluntary counseling and tesXng, the reacXon wouldn’t be as hosXle if a posiXve diagnosis comes up.”
Other Journalists Look at Antenatal Care, HIV TesGng and Gender RelaGons The issues that Trephine Anecho is addressing are familiar ones to a number of Ugandan journalists. Some of the best recent stories addressing them, all available online, include the following:
Agnes Asiimwe reported in the Daily Monitor that Uganda has a high rate of mother‐to‐child transmission of HIV partly because many Ugandan women get pregnant without knowing their HIV status and fail to receive antenatal care. http://www.monitor.co.ug/artman/ Are there issues journalists shouldn’t publish/health‐and‐living/Fruitlessly_ figh8ng_new_HIV_infec8ons_in_children_ report because they may be 73527.shtml misunderstood? Mr Atuhaire gives a resounding ‘no’. He says journalists Harriet Okot explained in the Daily Monitor should report everything that revolves why should women seek antenatal care, and what exactly happens during antenatal around society. “There is no story that visits. h6p://www.monitor.co.ug/artman/ is a no‐go for journalists; the challenge publish/health‐and‐living/You_can_ t_afford_to_miss_antenatal_clinics_ should be how to report it.” 75715.shtml Mr Atuhaire also says it not a reporter’s fault if a story has a negaXve effect. Obviously if you go out to report and something is not true and somebody gets into problems, a journalist should take responsibility, he says. But he adds: “But if you report the truth and somebody gets into problems it’s not the responsibility of journalists. Their role is to report what they see.” SXll, the level of professionalism in journalism in the country is sXll wanXng and many reporters cannot be trusted to report stories accurately. Some insXtuXons are doing responsible journalism while for others, quality is a major concern. Mr Atuhaire says many media houses, most especially radios, leave a lot to be desired as far as public affairs reporXng is concerned. Ms Buluba says a journalist’s job has its risks. Incidents such as the one in which women are direcXng their frustraXon towards Ms Anecho, come with the job, she argues☻
Stephen Fredrick Magomu reported in the Observer that officials in Nakapiripirit District in northeastern Uganda have required couples to get HIV‐tesXng together. h6p://www.observer.ug/ index.php?op8on=com_content&view=art icle&ca8d=34%3Anews&id=2368%3Acom pulsory‐hiv‐test‐for‐nakapiripirit‐couples‐ &Itemid=59 Teddy Musumba disclosed in the New Vision that while several programs promote male parXcipaXon in reproducXve health, few men have heeded to the call – and that as a result few women have taken on reproducXve health services that enhance their quality of life. h6p: //www.newvision.co.ug/D/9/34/662985/ men%20and%20antenatal%20care Agnes Kyotalengerire asked and answered the quesXon, Antenatal classes: Why Men Should A=end With Their Wives” in the New Vision. h6p://www.newvision.co.ug/ D/9/621/650412/men%20and%20antena tal%20care For a useful fact sheet on antenatal care, visit: h6p://womenshealth.gov/faq/ prenatal‐care.cfm
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The Doctors have Diagnosed a Malaria Epidemic: The Prescription is …
Malaria Resources Although malaria is oUen described as an ancient disease, some of the discussion at the UHCA,UNAU workshop showed that many Ugandans sXll don’t know the basic facts about it. Here are some resources: Medline Plus, the online database of the U.S. NaXonal Library of Medicine: h6p:// www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/malaria.html Global Health ReporBng. This new companion site to Global Health ReporXng includes global data on HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria and more. h6p://www.globalhealthrepor8ng.org/ countries/Uganda.asp?id=146&con=Ugand a&malID=205&tbID=206&collID=11&hivIC= 207&malIC=208&tbIC=209&map=210&p=3
From (L‐R) Dr. Ambrose Talisuna, Dr. Denis Rubahika Kinungu and Dr. Freddie Ssengooba, at UHCA and UNAU’s malaria workshop at Makerere
M
alaria remains Uganda’s No 1 killer even though other countries have demonstrated that the disease can be eradicated. What is the ma=er? Three speakers offered their views at a workshop on 23 April that was co‐sponsored by UHCA and the Makerere University chapter of the United NaXons AssociaXon of Uganda. Dr. Denis Rubahika Kinungu, senior medical officer in the Ministry of Health’s Malaria Control Programme, showed what Uganda hopes to achieve in its war on malaria – but in the process he also revealed just how far the country has to go. His presentaXon provides a useful quick reference with basic facts on the malaria situaXon in Uganda including staXsXcs, naXonal policy, past efforts to eradicate the disease and the challenges to be met.
availability of malaria medicines. His presentaXon contained detailed staXsXcs of the malaria treatment access in Uganda. Dr. Freddie Ssengooba, a faculty member from the Makerere University School of Public Health, argued that malaria has created its own industry” – hundreds of individuals in the healthcare sector, pharmaceuXcal industry, media and advocacy organizaXons, and research sciences – who have come to depend on the disease for their livelihood. And he noted that donor funding, besides being uncertain, oUen steers policy‐makers toward expensive and less effecXve strategies. The soluXon? According to Ssengooba, government must take the leading role in pursuing the most cost‐effecXve but currently neglected strategies☻
Dr. Ambrose Talisuna, the Country For a copy of the speakers’ informaGve and RepresentaGve of Medicine for Malaria thought‐provoking presentaGons, please Ventures, described his organisaXon’s contact us at ugandahealthcom@yahoo.com ambiXous effort to increase the
Pilgrim Uganda.Malaria kills nearly one million children in Africa every year, and around 100,000 in Uganda. The most vulnerable groups are unborn children, children below five and pregnant women. Nearly half of hospital inpaXent pediatric deaths are due to malaria. The area Pilgrim is targeXng (Teso sub region) accounts for 12% of Africa’s malaria cases. Tel: + 256‐41‐235240, http://www.pilgrim‐uganda.org/malaria/ Malaria Control Programme, Ministry of Health In most parts of Uganda, temperature and rainfall are sufficient to allow a stable, year round (perennial) malaria transmission at high levels with relaXvely li=le seasonal variability. Only in the high alXtude areas in the Southwest, West and East is malaria transmission generally low, with more pronounced seasonality, and the occurrence of epidemics. Contact: Ms. Mary Byangire 0772517269 http://www.health.go.ug/mcp2/index2.html Malaria and Childhood Illness NGO Secretariat (MACIS): Ms. Enid 0772 632223 h6p: //www.popline.org/docs/1611/285690.html AMREF in Uganda. There are 500 million cases of malaria each year, and up to 1.5 million deaths. The majority are in sub‐Saharan Africa, which is home to an esXmated 80% of the world’s malaria cases. In Africa, children under five years and pregnant women bear the brunt of the disease because their immunity is less. Children who survive may suffer anaemia and cerebral problems that affect long‐term development. Tel: +256 414 250319, Email:info3@amref.org, Country Director: Joshua Kyallo, h6p://www.amref.org/ what‐we‐do/fight‐disease/malaria/
Journalists Offered Fellowships on Early Childhood The Oscar van Leer Fellowships aim to contribute to a gradual improvement in the quality and quanXty of media coverage of early childhood issues by training up‐and‐ coming journalists. Each fellowship consists of a four‐week, expenses‐paid training course in The Netherlands covering journalism and children’s issues. This is an opportunity for young journalists Uganda Health Reporter
to further their general professional development and to establish for themselves a parXcular area of experXse. The fellowships are open to journalists in Colombia, Mexico, Peru, Kenya, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, the Caribbean, and the Indian region of Orissa. Applicants can work in any form of media,
including print, radio, television or web. The closing date is August 18th 2009. The iniXaXve ulXmately seeks to influence decision makers and the public of those countries to improve society’s understanding of early childhood issues. For more details about the fellowships, please visit: www.bernardvanleer.org/ovlf 3
Use UHCA to Learn - Through Experience By Christopher Conte
I
and their community.
n late 2007, when I learned that I would be coming to Uganda to train and support health
UHCA’s members also are learning a
journalists here, I sought advice
lot about how to govern themselves.
from Bobby Pestronk, the longest
How
do
different
commi=ee
serving and one of the most highly
members work as teams? What
respected local public health officials
is the role of chairperson? What,
in the U.S. “The first thing you need
indeed, is leadership, and what is
to realize,” he told me, “is that nothing
good “follower‐ship”? And how can
you do is going to make a difference.”
UHCA sustain itself over the long run? I myself don’t know the answers, but
He was talking mainly about health,
I am starXng to learn some answers
where lasXng improvements only
with UHCA.
come with Xme. But his bleak I believe UHCA is a great school of
comment applies to journalism too. An old‐Xme journalist may teach younger
Mr. Christopher Conte
journalism. Of course, it gives no cerXficates or diplomas. But in the
people a few tricks of the trade or introduce them to some new ideas,
long aUer I’m gone. What’s more, it
end, we are judged not by what
but as soon as the last PowerPoint
provides a parXcularly effecXve kind of
credenXals we hold but by what
slide is shown, working journalists
training: learning through experience.
we accomplish. Consider Bobby
have to go back to their newsrooms,
By parXcipaXng in its organizaXonal
Pestronk. Besides being one of the
where new ideas can easily be
acXviXes, members not only improve
most successful local health officials
overcome by pressing deadlines,
their journalism skills, they also acquire
in America, he was chosen by his
demanding editors, profit‐minded
other organizaXonal skills. Planning
peers to lead the naXonal associaXon
owners, uncooperaXve newsmakers,
a good workshop or producing this
for state and local health officials.
and powerful insXtuXons that bring all
newsle=er require basic journalism
Yet he doesn’t even have a degree in
kinds of pressure to get the coverage
skills: the ability to be relevant and
public health. His ability to learn on
they want. Besides, within a few years
responsive to the needs of the audience,
the job, not his experience in school,
many of those who receive the training
to determine what is newsworthy, to use
propelled him to the top☻
will move on anyway.
the best “sources,” to fit informaXon into a defined “space” (or period of Xme) and
The soluXon? Pestronk urged me to
to present informaXon in a balanced and
help establish an insXtuXon that can
provocaXve way.
support good health reporXng over the long term. Shortly aUer I came
Whether they are planning workshops,
to Uganda, I learned about UHCA,
wriXng the newsle=er or developing a
and quickly realized that it offered an
website, UHCA members are honing the
answer to Pestronk’s challenge.
most important journalism skill of all: they are learning how to learn – and how
Established and run by Ugandans,
to go on learning conXnuously. And in the
UHCA can go on providing training
process, they are helping their colleagues
Uganda Health Reporter
Christopher Conte is a Knight InternaBonal Health Journalism Fellow who works with UHCA and health journalists. To learn more about Bobby Pestronk, you can read an arBcle Conte wrote about him several years ago for the Robert Wood Johnson FoundaBon: hRp://www.rwjf.org/ pr/product.jsp?id=21370
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