The best way to reach vast numbers of people about how to avoid HIV/AIDS is through the radio and other media. But before the knowledge can spread, journalists need training to understand health issues and to explain the story.

A U.S.-backed program has just completed training 1,000 journalists in Africa and Asia on how to prevent AIDS. These reporters and editors in turn have reached millions of people with their messages.

The program aims “to provide interesting and actionable information about health, disease prevention, support and treatment, about the rights of health consumers, and about what governments and other actors are doing to protect the health of the public,” said Gloria Coe of the USAID Global Health Bureau, manager of the C-Change (Communication for Change) project.

She spoke at a briefing at the National Press Club in Washington, Sept. 9.

“Health and journalism is a winning combination,” said Coe. “We all know that the media sets the public agenda and helps to set the policy agenda; in essence, the media is the world’s storyteller. We also know that well-written articles impact on individual and collective decisions to adopt healthy behaviors. Recognizing this, many USAID projects routinely include journalism in their programming.”

The 1,000 journalists received five to seven days training by Internews, including visits to the home of a person with AIDS. The reporters learned to record background sounds and create a news magazine-style piece, which is new to Africa and other developing media. Some 70 percent of training focused on journalism techniques and 30 percent on medical knowledge.

Without training, too many stories were simply lists of government statistics, lacking real voices and stories, one trainer said.