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Welcome to Journalists against TB!
Journalists against TB was born of a frustration of not being able to advocate for TB through the mainstream media, which, out of its own compulsions has decided to keep TB stories on the back burner – somewhat restricted to special supplements and one off articles on World TB Day. I’m often asked why we chose to focus on TB when the world, and particularly India is faced with a myriad health issues. And I have only one answer – after Mycobacterium tuberculosis was discovered by Robert Koch in 1882, more than 125 years later, TB still continues to infect one third of the global population, causing nearly 9 million new cases of TB and the death of nearly 1.8 million people every year. For decades there has been little effort to improve techniques for diagnosing TB. TB tests are antiquated and inadequate. The most widely used test (smear microscopy) is 125 years old and routinely misses half of all cases. Treatment, adherence, vaccines – all of these pose challenges. We just can’t seem to do enough to eradicate what is on the face of it, a completely curable disease. What better reasons can we have for talking about TB, acting on it and finding relief for the millions who are affected by it?
Well – here we are. And it looks like we’re here to stay. It’s not easy to find interesting content and keep this space fresh and topical. But here’s where we are grateful to people from the most unexpected sources who have come in with their valuable contributions and made our job somewhat simpler.
This blog has a mission – “Fusing journalism and TB – telling the stories as they are”. This means that there has to be a focus on people. The people that suffer from and are affected by TB. And yet, these stories are the hardest to get. Getting stories from the ground means having an ear to it. It means staying in touch with people who work on the ground. JATB will be happy to carry stories that agencies hold with them – success stories, stories of change, or even stories that reflect the pain, the challenges and the problems that people suffering from TB have.
This is not exactly ‘breaking news’ because it happened on 26 Oct 2011. We at JATB are very proud to have received the Stop TB Award for Excellence in Reporting on Tuberculosis for the article Children and TB – the diagnostic challenges. What the award really reinforces for us is the belief that it is possible to find spaces that are powerful and serve to spotlight issues; they are in fact just as powerful as the mainstream media and need to be used with greater vigour. We are grateful to the Stop TB Partnership for having recognized this potential and given it impetus and recognition.
Great things are happening in the TB sector!! JATB has just received a 2011 annual report for this blog from WordPress. The results are encouraging.
An excerpt “A New York City subway train holds 1,200 people. This blog was viewed about 6,600 times in 2011. If it were a NYC subway train, it would take about 6 trips to carry that many people.” Read the full report here.
As we enter a brand new year, JATB, out of a realisation that there are expectations to be met and hopes to be fulfilled, has devised means to do things differently, use technology even more effectively to convey messages. We have exciting things in store. This week we post our second online panel discussion on ‘Working with the media – what it takes Part two! Listen in!
The search words on this site indicate that readers are keen to know about the elements that go into a good health story. I am pasting a link to a previous post which in my opinion, addresses this query. Read What makes a good health story?
Bharathi Ghanashyam
Dear Bharathi,
Congratulations on this endeavour! Hope this group can connect with TB competence group at http://aidscompetence.ning.com/group/tbcompetence. We would like to learn from your experience.
Regards,
Rituu
Facilitator Share, Constellation Support Team
http://www.communitylifecompetence.org
http://aidscompetence.ning.com
Rituu B Nanda
January 20, 2011 at 7:24 am
Will do Rituu. Thank you so much for your encouragement. I talk for the entire group when I say we will be happy to be a part of the TB competence group.
JournalistsAgainstTB
January 20, 2011 at 7:38 am
Dear Mam
Congratulations on this very important and timely venture, much needed as TB is never an issue for mainstream media. We hope this will be a platform to learn, network with like mind people, create awareness and work together to address TB effectively. All the very best and hope to see updates on civil society initiatives.
Regards
Ramya
Ramya Sheshadri
January 20, 2011 at 8:46 am
Hi Ramya,
your encouragement feels great! Look forward to you visiting our blog often. Do subscribe to it so you can get intimation whenever there is an update. Also invite you to contribute on the legal aspects of right to treatment, IPR issues, patents etc.
JournalistsAgainstTB
January 20, 2011 at 9:34 am
Commendable initiative, congratulations !
Hoping to see more of it.
Arun
March 24, 2011 at 7:46 am
Thanks Arun. You will surely see more of this. Would you like to subscribe to the blog so you can get to see the latest posts? It’s free
Also pass the message on!
JournalistsAgainstTB
March 24, 2011 at 9:11 am
Thank you so much and congratulations on this endavour! Together we can make a difference!
Andreas Sandgren
March 24, 2011 at 12:50 pm
I’m sure we can Andreas!
JournalistsAgainstTB
March 24, 2011 at 1:50 pm
Congratulations and I want to circulate this message to others also can I?
N.M.Devendrappa
March 25, 2011 at 5:08 am
Please do Devendrappa. Will be a pleasure!
JournalistsAgainstTB
March 25, 2011 at 6:05 am
a very good intitative my sister keep it up, it could assist many of us to know the status and stands of TB in the whole world, so les keep the ball rolling. By the way, try to talk to Winnie, her country Swaziland is undergoing difficult times police a brutally killing people who are protesting against the monarchy
mathapeli Ramonotsi
April 12, 2011 at 7:54 am
Will do my friend. Do you want to send me the situation from Lesotho for our blog? We welcome guest writers!
JournalistsAgainstTB
April 12, 2011 at 1:46 pm
Dear Bharathi,
Just discovering this initiative, looking forward to next steps.
Thought you might like to check an ongoing virtual panel discussion where experts from FIND, WHO, etc. and health implementers from around the world are debating the feasibility of implementing Xpert MTB/RIF in high-endemic countries with limited resources. You can view the discussion here: http://www.ghdonline.org/drtb/discussion/ghdonline-expert-panel-challenges-in-rolling-out-t/
Everyone can sign up and participate for free. The panel runs until May 20.
Sincerely, Sophie
Sophie Beauvais
May 16, 2011 at 12:36 am
Will do Sophie, thanks.
JournalistsAgainstTB
May 16, 2011 at 2:55 am
Dear Bharathi,
I was going through all the comments and responses above. I congratulate you for the tremendous work. Presently, the media role in TB control is not much beyond the usual sensitization meetings and all that. I have not seen any article appreciating role of front line workers ie DOT Providers or how some one fought TB against all odds and got cured. A lot is left to be done in this aspect.
Jitendra S
August 1, 2011 at 11:29 am
Exactly my thoughts Jitendra. Can you give me some information on what is being done in this direction so that I can write about it. you can write to me on my mail id.
JournalistsAgainstTB
August 2, 2011 at 2:50 am
Dear Bharathi,
It was good to meet you in Lille a few weeks’ ago. I enclose a link to my report on TB and Diabetes, I hope you find it interesting. I shall keep you posted with my work in this area too. I hope you had a good trip home!
Best wishes
Helen Sharp
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00ldzpv
Helen Sharp
November 14, 2011 at 8:02 pm
Your link is up Helen. Thanks for your kind mail. It was good meeting you as well.
JournalistsAgainstTB
November 16, 2011 at 1:30 pm
Madam,
Congratulation.. i’m a medical student.. i did a research on the topic “A Study on knowledge, attitude and stigma on tuberculosis among the general public” few months back.. Madam where can i publish my research article? Can you help me if you don’t mind?
Jishnu Jayaraj
November 15, 2011 at 3:00 am