Writing for Our Lives documents best practices from Maisha Yetu, whose defining feature has been continuous in-house mentoring and training on health care reporting in six media houses in Botswana, Kenya and Senegal over two years.

The uninterrupted presence of journalist-trainers (as opposed to the more widespread model of one-time workshops on health reporting) enabled the integration of theory and practice.

This resulted in dramatic changes in the quantity and quality of reporting on HIV/AIDS,TB and malaria. It has created champions of health care journalism in mid- and upper-level management where there was little or none before.

It has helped journalists to recognize the centrality of women’s stories in the HIV/AIDS crisis