To increase issue-focussed reporting on tuberculosis, HIV and lung health in lead up to, during and post 43rd Union World Conference on Lung Health in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, the Citizen News Service - CNS was engaged in a range of communication initiatives around this event. Voices of affected communities were in the centre of what CNS did around this conference.
1) CNS facilitated an online consultation and conducted key informant interviews before the conference on "Lessons learnt from roll-out of MDR-TB services" on Stop-TB eForum (October-November 2012), the summary report of which is available here.
2) CNS also had a three-member on-site team at this conference to be eyes and ears of those who aren't able to attend. This CNS on-site team included: Bharathi Ghanashyam (Journalists Against Tuberculosis - JATB), Hara Mihalea and Shobha Shukla. The on-site team generated 24 in-depth news feature articles around this conference that were syndicated by CNS and widely published in print, electronic and online media channels in at least 20 countries in Asia and Africa. Shobha Shukla was supported by Global Alliance for TB Drug Development (TB Alliance) and Lilly MDR TB Partnership. CNS is grateful to the International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease (The Union) for all on-site support.
2) CNS also had a three-member on-site team at this conference to be eyes and ears of those who aren't able to attend. This CNS on-site team included: Bharathi Ghanashyam (Journalists Against Tuberculosis - JATB), Hara Mihalea and Shobha Shukla. The on-site team generated 24 in-depth news feature articles around this conference that were syndicated by CNS and widely published in print, electronic and online media channels in at least 20 countries in Asia and Africa. Shobha Shukla was supported by Global Alliance for TB Drug Development (TB Alliance) and Lilly MDR TB Partnership. CNS is grateful to the International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease (The Union) for all on-site support.
3) Right after this conference Shobha Shukla led a two member team to conduct key informant interviews with multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) and HIV co-infected patients and team members of TB Bureau, Ministry of Public Health, Government of Thailand and Drug Resistant Tuberculosis Research Fund of Thailand. Three news feature articles were generated on TB, TB-HIV and MDR-TB related issues in Thailand. Shobha Shukla was supported by Global Alliance for TB Drug Development (TB Alliance) and Lilly MDR TB Partnership.
4) Shobha Shukla from CNS on behalf of over 50 partners presented the childhood TB e-consultation and key informant interviews done earlier this year, its summary report and advocacy campaign thereafter, in ACSM "Best Practice Examples" session of ACSM sub-group meeting of the Stop TB Partnership before this conference opened in Kuala Lumpur.
CNS news feature articles (see below) were published in:
The New Times (Rwanda), The Island (Sri Lanka), Deccan Herald (India), The Brunei Times (Brunei Darussalam), Asian Tribune (Thailand/ Sri Lanka), Sun Star (Philippines), Pakistan Post, Modern Ghana, Asia Sentinel (Hong Kong), Weekly Blitz (Bangladesh), The Seoul Times (South Korea), Bihar and Jharkhand News Service (India), American Chronicle (US), News Blaze (US), Scoop News (New Zealand), FM 102.5 (Thailand), World News Network (WNN), e-Pao.net (Manipur, India), The Mangalorean (India), Relief Web, SEA-AIDS, Stop-TB eForum, Diabetes-Care, CABSA (Southern Africa), GLBT Jamaica, Buzz News (New Zealand), Media for Freedom (Nepal), I4U News, Cameroon Post Line, Humanitarian News, Elites TV, News Day (Zimbabwe), Medical News Today, Hindustan Times (HT) Syndication, Central Chronicle (India), EDB News Service, EIN News Service, Congo News, South Asian Mail (Singapore), The Med Guru News, Spy Ghana News, Ghana Daily Eye, TB Online, English and Hindi Citizen News Service – CNS,
The above media channels were from the following countries (20):
India, Brunei Darussalam, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe, Philippines, Ghana, Hong Kong, Singapore, Bangladesh, South Korea, US, New Zealand, Netherlands, South Africa, Jamaica, Nepal, Cameroon, Rwanda, Pakistan,
Social media dissemination:
CNS disseminated most content generated using social media platforms such as Twitter (specific hash tags including #Kuala2012), Facebook pages, groups; Reddit.com, blogs etc. The content was also disseminated where appropriate on issue-focussed electronic discussion forums (eForums) such as Stop-TB eForum which CNS manages, SEA-AIDS (Asia Pacific eForum on HIV, founded by HDN in 1996 and managed by CNS since 2008 onwards), Tambakoo-Kills, ITPC, ITPC India, Diabetes Care, among others.
If we search with keywords "Citizen News Service" and "43rd Union World Conference on Lung Health" we get more than 4,500 links on Google
CNS coverage of 43rd Union World Conference on Lung Health:
1. Early Diagnosis Is Key To Controlling MDR-TB
Online
at: http://www.citizen-news.org/2012/12/early-diagnosis-is-key-to-controlling.html
2. Spotlight on Tuberculosis control in Thailand
Online
at: http://www.citizen-news.org/2012/11/reality-check-tuberculosis-control-in.html
3. Is There Hope For MDR-TB Patients?
4. Strengthening Existing Health Systems To Manage TB
5. Meeting the targets: Are we
doing better in HIV than in TB?
6. Tuberculosis Control: Are We
On Our Way?
7. Has Childhood TB Come Of Age?
8. Empowered Communities And Accountable Health Systems: Need Of
The Hour
9. Diabetes is a public health disaster
10. Addressing The Double Burden of TB-Diabetes: Better
Late Than Never
11. No longer business as usual for tuberculosis response
12. Standard test fails to detect 93% childhood TB
13. Civil Society Call For Urgency In TB Control
14. Summary Report: Lessons from roll-out of MDR-TB services
15. Bi-directional TB Diabetes Screening in India and China
16. Give TB A Human Face And Not Mere Statistics
17. Call For A Comprehensive Approach To Childhood Pneumonia
18. What Killed Vedavalli - TB Or
Sheer Negligence Of Doctors?
19. Unless We Breathe Well We Cannot Live
20. When Will We Have A Surer Safer And Shorter Cure For MDR
TB?
21. Lessons from roll-out of MDR-TB services
22. MDR-TB, tobacco control, Lung diseases to be in focus at
2012 global meet
23. Aiming to bring TB cases to zero (Bharathi Ghanashyam)
24. Another year and counting: More promises to stamp out TB!
(Hara Mihalea)
Citizen News Service - CNS and Global Stop-TB eForum
December 2012
