MDR-TB Treatment & Prevention
Working with the Media: How to make your messages on tuberculosis count
Significant progress has been made by national tuberculosis programmes and partners globally to reduce the burden of TB. Despite continued efforts however, case detection rates have been stagnating, programmes are facing challenges in reaching high-risk populations and stigma and discrimination of people with TB continue to hamper efforts to get people timely diagnosis
and effective treatment.
We cannot effectively fight TB without reaching all the people who need to hear messages about TB prevention, symptoms, and treatment and act on them. This is where working with media can have significant impact. The media, which are highly influential and have a wide reach, are a powerful vehicle for getting messages to audiences you could never reach on your own.
The aim of this handbook is to give you and your organization some of the tools, and the confidence, to help spread our important messages through the media. The hope is that you will feel more comfortable, better equipped and keen to reach out to the media with our key messages about the need to address TB on an urgent basis.
The handbook walks you through the planning and execution of media outreach: from thinking about your goals to attracting media attention. Tips and suggestions for developing your key messages, handling interviews, writing news releases and calling journalists are also included. With the media’s scope and influence, we can reach people who need treatment, educate the public to this health risk in their midst, increase awareness of TB among health workers, encourage politicians to put TB higher on their political agenda, and donors to provide the money to help us achieve our goals.
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