Almaty, Kazakhstan, March 25, 2022 – In honor of World Tuberculosis (TB) Day, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) today held an awards ceremony to recognize journalists and bloggers for their coverage of TB. The ceremony represents the culmination of a contest to foster media coverage of TB and, in turn, bring important TB information to the public. Since January 2022, 10 items have been published and submitted for the contest. USAID awarded three prizes:
- 1st place: Moldir Asatova, Freelance movie director. Video: "Tuberculosis - diagnosis and treatment"
- 2nd place: Arailym Zholdasbayeva, TV presenter at "Asyl Anna" TV channel. Video: "Tuberculosis is a global threat"
- 3rd place: Kristina Kovardakova, Journalist at Khabar 24 TV channel, article “Fallen ... then got up”.
All winners were selected by a jury representing the Kazakhstan National TB Program, The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, and the USAID Eliminating TB in Central Asia activity.
In his opening remarks, the Regional Mission Director Mr. Lawrence Hardy noted, “To effectively address TB in Kazakhstan requires engagement and collaboration across sectors, including health, social services, and even media. USAID makes investments to address health misinformation, to raise the public awareness of tuberculosis. By investing in the media, we address a parallel pandemic - one of misinformation - that impedes the important work of the healthcare system. Accurate works of journalism are helping to ensure that credible health information is available to the public for informed decision making.”
The theme of World TB Day 2022 is “Invest to End TB. Save Lives.” USAID’s investment in promoting media coverage of TB-related issues is important to raise public awareness about TB, reduce stigma and discrimination, highlight TB-related issues for decision-makers and opinion leaders, and remove barriers to TB services. Leading up to World TB Day, the USAID Eliminating TB in Central Asia activity initiated a 100-day awareness raising campaign, which included a series of events to engage the media, train media representatives, encourage blogger and journalists’ coverage of TB, and the development of a handbook for media representatives on TB issues.
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USAID is the world’s leading international development agency and a catalytic agent for development outcomes. For more information, visit the USAID/Central Asia and USAID/Kazakhstan websites and Facebook page.
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