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For more than a decade, AVAC and partners have been leading Media Science Cafés, a program connecting journalists, researchers and advocates to help expand and deepen accurate reporting of HIV science. The program began in Uganda, when a group of journalists were looking for ways to connect with research and better understand both the science of HIV and its impact on their communities. These Cafés began with a focus on HIV with support from the Gates Foundation and the USAID-funded Coalition to Accelerate & Support Prevention Research (CASPR) and have expanded over the years to cover research on sexual and reproductive health and other health issues and, more recently with support from the Rockefeller Foundation, to COVID-19, and are now running, in partnership with health media associations, in Kenya, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
In a blog, Changing Minds: Journalists see a universe of genders, South African journalist, Mandi Smallhorne-Kraft tells the story of how one Café in Zimbabwe, as part of the 2019 program to connect journalists with transgender people, made a critical connection that participants called transformational. It’s a must read. Follow this link to read more.
The Media Science Cafés don’t only prepare journalists to report on the results of clinical trials, they provide a platform for journalists to engage deeply with the marginalized communities, who are most impacted by HIV and global health inequity. Helping journalists to better understand the connection between HIV and affected communities is a long-term commitment to support journalism that integrates the stories of marginalized people and advances public understanding of these complex issues.
For more information on the Media Café’s, including COVID-19 resources for journalists, go to avac.org/media-science-cafes or contact media@avac.org.