Thanks for the comments . . . Feedback from Health Desk participants last week led to a thought-provoking discussion, an addition to the Bad Word list, and this important point: The public officials whose speeches and remarks often make up the bulk of health coverage, are sometimes in need information themselves. We can do them, our readers and the citizens who rely on those officials a big favor by asking questions about what they say.
A workshop with a purpose . . .In any case while rhetoric gets attention, research provides answers. That is why Wellcome Trust is supporting a workshop led by media consultant Oliver Kanene next week examining the challenges and opportunities of communicating evidence-based approaches to public health problem solving. The workshop: Maximising Health Research Communication in Zambia, will take place November 16-18 at the Hotel Intercontinental. It will, it is to be hoped, be just the beginning of an organized and collaborative approach to spreading word of important findings. The opening ceremony, in which Microbicides Media and Communications Initiative Coordinator Deborah Baron will make a presentation, will be open to all press members for coverage. For more information, write to neshamavalley@yahoo.com.
Numbers tell a story
While the percentage of Zambians being diagnosed with HIV has stabilised — in itself not great news, as roughly 14 percent remains too high — the actual numbers of people getting this preventable virus are going up, because of population growth, according to this story, based on data from the National AIDS Council. Low condom use is one of the reasons, and one reason for that, according to the story is an inadequate supply.
Treatment is Prevention, according to this research . . .
Availability of antiretroviral drugs can reduce HIV transmission by lowering the likelihood of infection, according to this story from Bloomberg on World Health Organization findings. While these findings don’t support the optimistic projection made last year that HIV could be virtually eliminated if everyone infected were tested and treated immediately, they do bolster hopes that treatment and prevention can happen together.
Could research yield bilateral disease control?
Home-grown anti-malaria medicine could be the bounty of research involving efforts to grow the indigenous Chinese shrub from which artemisinisin based treatment is derived on African soil. Efforts to farm hybrids of the shrub in Tanzania, Kenya, and Nigeria have been promising according to this Reuters story. Could it happen here?
Looking for data?
Afya Mzuri, Dziwani Knowledge Centre for Health…. This is a great research resource for journalists—conveniently located right behind Manda Hill. With a video lending library, publication database searches, document delivery by email, and referrals to other organizations, it is open to the Mon. – Fri. from 9:00 to 16:00 hours. For information call 295 120/3/4, or write to: enquiries@afyamzuri.org.zm More on the centre next time . . .
Finally, numbers + vivid examples tell an engaging story . . .
As the Lusaka premiere of Shuga, a production of MTV’s Staying Alive Campaign with UNICEF support showed at the The Play House last night. The mostly convincing story lines looked at reasons why young people continue to supply the fastest growing numbers of new HIV diagnoses.
