In 2002, working with a $1.5 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the International Women’s Media Foundation created the Maisha Yetu Project to enhance the quality and consistency of reporting on HIV/AIDS, TB and malaria in Africa. The first phase of the project was qualitative and quantitative research on how the media cover health issues and was published as Deadline for Health: The Media’s Response to Covering HIV/AIDS, TB and Malaria in Africa.

The second phase of Maisha Yetu was the creation of “Centers of Excellence” in three African countries with the goal of creating practical, sustainable measures to help African media improve their health coverage. A report on the project, Writing for Our Lives: How the Maisha Yetu Project Changed Health Coverage in Africa, was published in July 2006. A conference was also held in Johannesburg, South Africa in July 2006, where representatives form the Centers of Excellence shared their experiences with representatives from key African media, and nongovernmental and women’s organizations.

To view Deadline for Health: The Media’s Response to Covering HIV/AIDS, TB, and Malaria in Africa, visit: http://www.iwmf.org/files/8393_Pagi...

For further information concerning the “Centers of Exellence” or the Maisha Yetu Project, visit the AWMC website, www.awmc.com, or contact the AWMC at info@awmc.com