The Health Media Project aims to increase public awareness of health issues by facilitating interaction between the media and public health NGOs. The overall program goals also include facilitating the ability of the media to raise awareness about marginalized populations and stigmatized issues, and improving the capacity of public health NGOs to utilize media and communicate effectively with the public.

Within the context of the Public Health Program's policy and advocacy work, Health Media supports activities such as journalist training and follow-up activities, communication training for advocates and NGOs, and collaboration with journalism schools. The project works closely with other Public Health Program initiatives, OSI’s Media Program, Soros foundations in the former Soviet Union and in Africa, and the Tifa Foundation in Indonesia. In addition, the Health Media project invests in health journalism in specific countries to address broader, systemic issues such as the dearth of health media and obstacles to reporting on the health of marginalized groups, including issues of self-censorship.

For more information on the Health Media Project, please contact Lila Elman at lelman@sorosny.org.