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Global Health Matters >
Articles in this issue > Getting the Message
Straight—Public Health and Medical Reporting
Getting the Message Straight—Public
Health and Medical Reporting
In this era of globalization in low- and middle-income countries,
where access to the Internet and health care providers is limited,
the media are a critical source of health information, particularly
in defining health problems and building a public policy agenda.
FIC, with support from NCI and the National Institute of Environmental
Health Sciences, sponsored a workshop to provide 25 Latin American
and Latino health reporters an opportunity to share experiences
and ideas about reporting on a range of health topics using the
results of medical research. Topics covered during the workshop
included AIDS, cancer and tobacco, and environmental health. Speakers
addressed issues related to biology and the state of public health
for each of the three topics, reporting barriers, and science communication,
particularly related to risk and prevention. Breakout sessions focused
on case studies and review and critique of recent health articles.
The journalists conducted a preliminary program evaluation immediately
following the workshop. Overall, they found it highly rewarding,
and 90% said they would strongly recommend a similar future workshop.
Most agreed that it provided an excellent opportunity for exchange
and direct dialogue between scientists and journalists and spurred
further interest among the journalists to "visit the laboratories
and see NIH scientists in action."
FIC intends to expand similar workshops to other regions of the
world.
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