In February VOA opened its new Kano Reporting Center (KRC) in northern Nigeria. The event coincided with a health-reporting workshop for women journalists that focused on covering such issues as HIV/AIDS, polio, tuberculosis, leprosy, malaria, and other epidemics. More than 20 female broadcasters from across the country attended.
Magaji Abdullahi, Deputy Governor of Kano State, called the Center “very important to us” at the opening ceremony. Sunday Dare, chief of VOA’s Hausa Service, said Kano was chosen as the Center’s location because of its “rich political and cultural history,” and its importance as a hub for Hausa speakers.
During the workshop, doctors and health officials briefed the journalists in sessions that also offered practical advice on reporting on health issues, including finding the story’s human angle and exposing myths and misconceptions about diseases.
VOA’s health-oriented Hausa youth radio program, Karamin Sani Kukumi Ne (Little Knowledge is a Danger), is produced weekly from the KRC’s digital facility. For more information on VOA's Hausa programs, visit their web page at www.VOANews.com/Hausa.
See page 8 for Karamin Sani Kukumi Ne and other Hausa program information. The KRC is funded through an agreement with the U.S. Agency for International Devel-opment’s (USAID) Nigeria mission.
VOA Town Hall Meetings Address AIDS/HIV Pandemic
Thousands of people also turned out at three VOA Town Hall meetings on HIV/AIDS held in Kano, Jos and Bauchi State. These meetings were also supported by the U.S. Agency for International Development’s (USAID) Nigeria mission.
