As the International Aids Conference kicks off in Washington, an intensive health journalism training course involving more than 50 journalists and trainers is currently underway in Kenya.
Two of the largest cities in Kenya, Mombasa on the East Coast and Kisumu in the west, near Lake Victoria, are concurrently hosting intensive training programmes, workshops and hands-on courses provided by Internews.
At the end of the programme 44 journalists will have attended a full week of advanced, classroom based workshops followed by five weeks of hands on mentoring and practical support as they produce radio features, TV stories and newspaper articles.
The six-week training will focus on health journalism, centring on VMMC in Kisumu and the new Needle and Syringe Programme (NSP) in Mombasa.
The controversial NSP programme has inevitably divided residents of Mombasa, highlighting even more the need for factually correct and informative journalism across all media, be that TV, radio or print.
For more on the programme visit: http://www.the-star.co.ke/local/coast/84319-journalists-challenged-on-professionalism