Who We are
The Africa Health Solutions Journalism Initiative (AHSJI) was established by Science Africa in September 2020 with the main objective of improving credibility and effectiveness of media coverage of health and other related development issues pertinent to Africa.
AHSJI is a not-for-profit organization registered in Kenya. It helps spearhead and entrench Solutions Journalism (SoJo) in Africa for effective health and development-oriented reporting on the continent.
AHSJI believes that effective, sustainable and credible Solutions Journalism approach to reporting in Africa can help save lives, significantly drive down health-related costs and improve people’s responses to development challenges facing them and the nation. It all should finally result in African nations having healthy and productive communities.
About Africa Health Solutions Journalism Initiative
Health Solutions Journalism is rigorous and compelling reporting about responses to health problems. It investigates and explains, in a critical and clear-eyed way, examples of people working toward health solutions. It focuses not just on what may be working, but how and why the response appears to be working, or alternatively, why it may be stumbling or failing.
Using the best available evidence, it delves deep into the ‘how-to’ of problem solving by investigating questions like: What models are having success in reducing malaria incidences or COVID-19 infections in a particular community, city or state? How do they actually work? What are they doing differently than others that’s resulting resulting in better outcome? Solutions Journalism as approach to media reporting was first introduced by the Solutions Journalism Network (SJN), a partner of Science Africa, the parent company of AHSJI.
In summary, the four pillars of Solutions Journalism are
- Response to a problem
- Evidence of its effectiveness
- Insight
- Limitations
Status of Health Reporting in Africa
Health issues in Africa deserve increased attention, including effective solutions-oriented media coverage. The heavy disease burden worsened by COVID-19 pandemic that spread all over Africa and the world, could reverse gains that have been made in controlling the numerous communicable and noncommunicable diseases affecting most people on the continent. Local solutions to the health challenges may exist and are easily accessed, but due to lack of credible solutions-oriented information, fake news and conspiracy theories against vaccines, people are unaware or mistrust them.
Effective Health Solutions Journalism (SoJo approach has a huge potential to bridge the health information gap and help people across Africa cope with various health challenges that they grapple with. As a beacon for Health Solutions Journalism in Africa works to enable individuals, communities and authorities to undertake appropriate responses to health challenges in Africa. This is being done through media capacity building for an effective, sustainable and credible solutions journalism reporting on the continent to help save lives, significantly drive down health-relatedcosts and debunk anti-vaxxers conspiracy theories. AHSJI’s theory of change is that ” the people and policy makers will respond better to health problems if the media constantly share with them relevant and affordable solutions to those challenges.
