Health researchers and the media …… a time to stand close.
Health journalism is growing in importance – building strong bridges between the media and health researchers has never been more urgent.
Health journalism is growing in importance – building strong bridges between the media and health researchers has never been more urgent.
If a facility has no oxygen – the mother will go home either with a severely disabled baby that will need her care for the rest of his/her life or with a body to bury.
But there is a big difference between those who visit witchdoctors seeking election victory, increase in wealth, to get a love potion, stop another person from succeeding, protecting their property etc AND those who visit these people desperate for a cure of a chronic illness.
PCV10 vaccination was introduced in Kenya in 2011 – recent data suggests that it cuts pneumonia by half. That is really good news.
What is the cause of most premature deaths in Kenya? Is it cancer or malaria – do we really know? I set out to answer that question and found some interesting answers – what we are spewing as facts could be pure guess work.
‘When you ask a fresh student of nursing or medicine why they have chosen that career, they will tell you that they want to care for and help people. In college, they are trained briefly in communication theory, but when they go for practice, they watch their mentors shouting. Because it is normalised, they assimilate that behaviour. When they leave college, that caring heart is long forgotten because it did not receive any nurturing,’ says Mwanamvua.
Friday 24th October, Uhuru Kenyatta graced the 25th anniversary celebrations of KEMRI research program in Kilifi. The ‘not so normal’ people were well charmed.
The say a great prophet is never recognized in his home….that can be said of all great people. A Kenyan scientist won the most prestigious science award on the continent in 2012 and he did not make even the middle pages of our leading newspapers. A friendly editor tried hard to market this piece but somehow it did not get far…… a shame really. Dr Sam Kariuki is actually one of the people who inspired me to pursue post-graduate studies