Malaria: This Old Story Should Still Make News

In this 4-page article, Colin Lloyd, founder of the Commonwealth Health and Media Partnership, reflects on 2 workshops called “Malaria and the Media” that he conducted in the Gambia and Kenya in 2005. As part of this effort to build the knowledge and skills of journalists in order to improve the quality and quantity of malaria reporting, Lloyd encountered a puzzle: 40% of the world's populations live in malaria-endemic areas, and many journalists participating in the sessions have themselves contracted the disease...yet newspaper articles, and radio or television programmes, focusing on malaria prevention, control, and new developments are sparse.

By talking with the participating journalists, Lloyd learned that journalists find it challenging to find "fresh ideas" when it comes to reporting on malaria. Unless there is a dramatic breakthrough, they tend not to think of the disease very often - and/or they assume that it will not be "exciting" to the reader, listener, or viewer; that is to say, malaria-centred stories do not "'sell' as well as other 'trendier' health-related stories." Furthermore, journalists that Lloyd spoke with felt that accurate facts and figures on malaria can be difficult to obtain, making stories focused on the disease more time-consuming to produce.

While acknowledging these difficulties, Lloyd believes that "there are many angles to be pursued, many developments to be investigated, and many stories to be told." Among the strategies he offers here to journalists in Africa and around the world:

• Incorporate subtle yet positive messages into a radio soap; one of the characters, for example, could be setting up her mosquito bed-net while talking to her friends.
• Create a feature story on a mother who recognised the symptoms of malaria in her sick child, exploring what she did next.
• Visit a village to talk with a person who claims to have a cure for malaria, asking what proof he or she has.
• Work with a local non-governmental organisation (NGO) to develop a series of public service announcements (PSAs) on malaria prevention.
• Develop a news feature on the myths surrounding malaria.

Lloyd also assures journalists that reference material on malaria is plentiful online, and offers the World Health Organization (WHO)'s Roll Back Malaria website as a starting point. He also invites print, radio, and television journalists, producers, and programme makers from around Africa and around the world to participate in the Health and Media listserv for more information and networking opportunities.

Editor's note: This article is no longer available online.