Award Ceremony Acknowledging Responsible Reporting on Diabetes
On 27 November 2024, the Integrated Health Services (IHS) and Accessible Quality Healthcare (AQH) projects hosted an award ceremony to announce the winners of the media training and award program for responsible reporting on diabetes.
This initiative focused on raising awareness about non-communicable diseases (NCDs), specifically diabetes. It included a two-day training for journalists, enhancing their skills to report effectively on NCDs, aiming to foster informed public discourse and empower patients to manage their health better.
“Now we have over 25 journalists who have enhanced skills in reporting about health issues, in particular diabetes, which we did not have a year ago,” said Fatlum Jashari, board member of the Association of Journalists of Kosovo (AJK), during the award ceremony.
The award program, a collaboration between IHS, AQH, and AJK, was supported by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) and the Government of Kosovo, underscores the pivotal role of media in shaping public health discourse. The winners were selected from a pool of stories published between April and November 2024.
The awards celebrate journalists who help elevate public understanding and encourage informed health management. The awardees are: first prize, Diana Basholli, from Gazeta Shneta with her story “I Thought Diabetes Affects Only the Elderly”; second prize Vlera Shabani from Kallxo.com with her story “We Have So Many Expenses: Parents of Children with Diabetes Wait for the State’s Help”, and third price Arbreshë Uka from Klan Kosova with her story “The Challenging Life of a 25-Year Old Diabetic: It Is Ruining My Love Life Also”.