Author Archives: Bara Vaida

About Bara Vaida

Bara Vaida (@barav) is AHCJ's core topic leader on infectious diseases. An independent journalist, she has written extensively about health policy and infectious diseases. Her work has appeared in outlets that include the National Journal, Agence France-Presse, Bloomberg News, McClatchy News Service, MSNBC, NPR, Politico and The Washington Post.

Advice from a journalist covering global health

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Photo: Dan Blah via Flickr

Amy Maxmen, a San-Francisco-based science reporter for Nature magazine, travels the world to cover global health topics. In 2018, her work took her to Cambodia, Myanmar and Thailand to cover the rising number of malaria deaths in Southeast Asia.

Her story “Malaria’s Ticking Time Bomb,” won first place in AHCJ’s 2018 Awards for Excellence in Health Care Journalism for a public health story published in the small market category. The article deftly blended plain English with scientific jargon to tell the story of scientists and public health workers efforts to eliminate malaria in Southeast Asia, as they contend with volatile political situations. Continue reading →

New angles in writing about mosquito season

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Photo: Gustavo Fernando Durán via Flickr

With mosquito season heating up in the United States, reporters may be looking for new angles to write about these outdoor pests.

Consider innovations in mosquito control.  As fears increase about damage to the environment and bee populations, many states are experimenting with biological alternatives to spraying. Continue reading →

Using narrative to link climate change to changes in global health

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Satellite view of South Africa.

The threat of emerging infectious diseases is expanding as climate change is altering the range of animals, people and the pathogens that they carry.

Warmer and wetter weather, as well as changing land use and global transportation means that diseases don’t remain behind borders, and populations are being exposed to new diseases like Zika, ebola and new strains of influenza. Continue reading →

Considering new angles during an infectious disease outbreak

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Photo: Global Panorama via Flickr

In May, the measles outbreak became the worst in 30 years, as communities across the country continue to battle the pathogen, which has sickened 1,077 people as of June 20, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

New York has been one of the hardest hit states in the country, with more than 500 cases, in part because Brooklyn, a borough in New York City, and Rockland County, are homes of large and close-knit Orthodox Jewish communities. Many parents in these communities have decided not to vaccinate their children because of concerns about the health implications of vaccines. Continue reading →

CDC, scientists brief journalists on status of vector-borne diseases in U.S.

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Image by Penn State via Flickr

Americans should be aware that diseases spread by kissing bugs, mosquitoes and ticks are sharply on the rise in the U.S., an official from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention official and two scientists told journalists on June 19.

The webcast hosted by SciLine, a free resource for journalists supported by the American Association for the Advancement of Science, highlighted that the combination of climate change, international travel, changing land use, deforestation, and urbanization of rural areas are all driving vector-borne diseases to the highest numbers ever reported. Continue reading →

Caution and ideas for covering HIV/AIDS in 2019

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In April 1984, then-U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Margaret Heckler announced the National Cancer Institute had discovered the virus that caused acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS), and scientists hoped to soon have a cure.

Since the epidemic began, around 35 million people have died around the world from AIDS-related illnesses, and there is still no widely available cure. There have, however, been huge advances in treatment, with new drugs to prevent the disease and drugs that enable those diagnosed with the virus -human immunodeficiency virus or HIV – that causes AIDS, to live into their 70s. Continue reading →