The programme allows journalists from Africa, Asia and Latin America to take a deep dive into their subject(s) of choice in the realm of tropical diseases and international health. The initiative is part of ITM’s capacity building programme in developing countries, financed by the Belgian Directorate-General for Development (DGD). This year, Sokummono Khan from Cambodia, Dewi Safitri from Indonesia and Marielba Nuñez from Venezuela stayed in Antwerp for several weeks.

Mono is an ambitious young journalist who writes for Voice of America and is immersed in antibiotic resistance.

Marielba is a seasoned correspondent for SciDev.net and El Nacional, a national newspaper of Venezuela and wrote about malaria. Venezuela is dealing with a humanitarian emergency where controlled diseases, such as malaria, have reemerged.

Dewi is an experienced science journalist who works for CNN Indonesia. She is writing a long read about dengue, which accounts for more than 1200 fatalities per year in Indonesia.

The three journalists look back at their residency at ITM with pleasure. "The opportunity to delve into a scientific issue and being presented with the space and resources to do that in peace is almost non-existent these days in modern journalism. The journalist-in-residence programme offered exactly that. A wish came true when I got accepted", says Dewi enthusiastically. "ITM is a first class science institution that, at the same time, has strong ties with its partners in the South”, says Marielba.

Links

• La malaria convirtió el país en amenaza (Marielba Nuñez)
• La ciencia afronta desafíos en la carrera contra el paludismo (Marielba Nuñez)