Ghana Business News journalist is one of first-ever RBM Media Fellows
One of the journalists, who regularly contributes to Ghana Business News, Eunice Menka has been selected as one of the 11 selected to hold the position of RBM Media Fellows for 2019, in recognition of their work in malaria control. The 11 were selected from a list of 140 applicants.
Eunice who once worked for the Ghana News Agency started writing for the Ghana Business News in 2011 and has consistently written on a broad range of subjects including her passion – health, with specific focus on malaria and HIV.
“We see the selection of Eunice for this Fellowship as recognition of the high standards of journalism that we uphold and pursue. For a news organisation that’s unable to pay its reporters and contributors because we do not generate revenue, contributors like Eunice are priceless to us and we celebrate her achievement,” says, Emmanuel K. Dogbevi, the Managing Editor of Ghana Business News.
“We believe she will excel in the Fellowship and we will offer her every support she needs along the way,” he adds.
The names of the winners were released today in a press statement issued by the RBM Partnership to End Malaria, the largest global platform for coordinated action against malaria and copied to ghanabusinessnews.com.
To mark the 20th anniversary of the RBM Partnership to End Malaria, the first-ever RBM Partnership Media Fellowship was launched in November 2018 to effectively engage journalists in countries with a high burden of malaria by promoting a greater understanding of the impact of this disease and what more needs to be done to end malaria, the statement said.
The journalists are from the 11 countries in the world with the highest burden of malaria: Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ghana, India, Mali, Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria, Uganda, and the United Republic of Tanzania.
According to the statement, over 140 journalists submitted applications for the fellowship. A panel of representatives from RBM Partnership global organizations and the RBM Partnership Secretariat reviewed and selected the finalists.
The media fellows will attend an intensive media training programme in Geneva alongside the World Health Assembly in May.
The fellows will also pursue further research into malaria-related issues in their home countries and collaborate with local partner organisations.
The statement quoted Yacine Djibo, Co-Chair, Strategic Communications Partner Committee, RBM Partnership, as saying: “The RBM Partnership recognises the influence that journalists can have to inform and educate their audiences about malaria. We are looking forward to working collaboratively with this group of talented reporters over the next year to develop their knowledge of the key challenges and opportunities to eliminating malaria, and to learn from each of them, too.”
Michal Fishman, Co-Chair, Strategic Communications Partner Committee, RBM Partnership to End Malaria also added that “This year’s fellows have demonstrated a strong commitment to the fight against malaria, an impressive understanding of the broader local context and healthcare landscape, and a high-degree of creativity in their reporting. In fact, the overall standard of applications was astounding and selecting just eleven fellows was a real challenge. We would like to thank all applicants for their dedication and enthusiasm and encourage each candidate to continue reporting on this important issue to end malaria for good.”
Below is the full list of the winners of the RBM Media Fellowship programme: Aissta Ahamadou, Mali, Mikado FM; Oumarou Brah Soulemane, Niger, L’Independant Plus; Appolonia Adeyemi, Nigeria, The Telegraph; Céline Iboudo, Burkina Faso, Radiodiffusion Télévision du Burkina; Esther Nakkazi, Uganda, Scidev.net; Charles Mangwiro, Mozambique, Radio Mozambique; Walter Yuven Fondzenyuy, Cameroon, Sky Sports Community Radio; Eunice Menka, Ghana, Ghana Business News; Busabahaka Mitima Delachance, Democratic Republic of Congo, Freelance; Daniel Benno Msangya, Tanzania, The Citizen and Anonna Dutt, India, The Hindustan Times.
Ms Menka is an award winning journalist and has couple of awards to her credit including a Ghana Journalists Association Best Health Reporter award. She is also a member of the Pan-African organisation, African Media and Malaria Research Network, made of journalists and scientists, working in the area of malaria advocacy.