Bhekisisa Recruitment

In 2012, the South African-based Mail & Guardian newspaper covered few health issues. The health stories that did make the publication’s pages appeared in a sponsored pull-out supplement, hidden inside a newspaper filled with "more worthy" political and investigative articles.... read more With fewer than 3 500 monthly online hits, the M&G’s online health section was barely read and buried on the site as a sub-subsection of the news subsection. But this scenario has since changed drastically. With support from the German government, the M&G launched a health journalism centre, Bhekisisa, in January 2013. This enabled the publication to appoint a health editor and two reporters and also to offer reporters from other publications fellowships so they could be mentored when writing health stories. In September 2015, Bhekisisa received funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to expand its health coverage to the rest of the African continent. In March 2016, the centre launched its own website. Our Johannesburg-based reporters travel to other African countries and Bhekisisa staff are also mentoring reporters across Africa to empower them to file solutions-based health features for our website. Moreover, we work with health policymakers, activists and researchers to write opinion pieces for our website.