When Health Becomes a Headline: What Journalists Taught Us About Telling Women’s, Children’s, and Adolescents’ Stories

Kadidiatou Toure, Team Lead, Communications and Campaigns, PMNCH

In the noisy churn of global news, health stories rarely make front-page headlines - unless they involve catastrophe. Maternal deaths, adolescent struggles, newborn health: these are too often treated as data points, not dispatches from lived experience. Yet when journalists take time to tell them fully, something extraordinary happens. Policies shift, empathy deepens, and invisible lives become visible.

That truth rang through powerfully in a recent global discussion convened by the Partnership for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health (PMNCH). The webinar, “Elevating Coverage of Women’s, Children’s, and Adolescents’ Health by the Media,” brought together editors, reporters, and advocates from across Africa, Asia, and beyond. It wasn’t another panel of platitudes - it was a candid reckoning with how journalism can either reinforce neglect or dismantle it.

The myth that health stories don’t sell

“Health stories are boring,” said Pamela Sittoni, Public Editor and former Executive Editor of Nation Media Group Kenya, recalling the refrain she’d heard for years in newsrooms. “They are not prioritized because media houses are interested in audiences and circulation.” 

But when Sittoni and her team actually listened to readers, a different story emerged. “Every time we ran reader surveys,” she said, “people said they were fed up with politics — and health was always one of the top, desired news topics.”

So she launched Healthy Nation, a 16-page weekly pull-out dedicated entirely to health journalism. The gamble paid off: circulation rose, readers wrote in to thank the newsroom, and health became part of Kenya’s national conversation.

“It showed that deliberate, well-resourced health journalism can win both hearts and readership,” Sittoni said. “You have to be intentional. You have to have the right people in the right positions.”

Her experiment demolished the myth that audiences only crave drama. When told with empathy and insight, stories about care and survival can be every bit as compelling as stories about conflict.

Independence is the foundation of integrity

While Kenyan readers proved their appetite for thoughtful reporting, the realities elsewhere are harder. Kemo Cham, Editor of ManoReporters in Sierra Leone, spoke candidly about the constraints of working in politically influenced media systems.

“Many media houses are registered as independent but are really not,” he said. “The owners have political interests, and this restricts what we talk about. Investment has to be done so we can get truly independent media people.”

Cham’s warning was not abstract. In places where newsroom funding depends on political or corporate patrons, accountability reporting—especially on health budgets—is often the first to disappear. Editorial independence is not just a professional ideal; it’s the oxygen of credibility. Without it, journalism cannot effectively challenge power—and public health suffers.

From access to ethics: the invisible labor of trust

For Tulip Mazumdar, former BBC Global Health Correspondent, the real craft of health reporting lies in building trust both with editors and with the people whose lives are told.

“To get global attention, you have to link local realities to universal themes - the humanity, the resilience, the policy implications,” she said. “Editors respond to stories that not only inform but inspire.”

But she also urged restraint and responsibility. Gaining access to hospitals, families, or grieving communities demands sensitivity.

“It’s hard to get into hospitals,” she explained. “You’re with members of the public, filming in sensitive areas. It’s understandable - you have to earn that access.”

Her reflection touched on a crucial point: relationship-building is not transactional; it’s ethical. Responsible health journalism means treating interviewees not as subjects, but as partners in truth-telling — ensuring consent, context, and dignity. Those relationships are slow to build but easily broken.

When data becomes story fuel

Several speakers underlined that empathy alone isn’t enough. Stories must also be anchored in transparent, accessible, and timely data. Without it, the public narrative risks sentimentality instead of substance.

As WHO’s Dr. Adelheid Onyango reminded the audience: “Behind every statistic is a woman, a child, or an adolescent whose life trajectory depends on how we communicate and act on these numbers.”

Her statement captured the balance journalists must strike - combining humanity with evidence. Journalists need data that is disaggregated, open, and comparable across countries, so they can expose inequities and track progress. When data is hidden, outdated, or fragmented, accountability evaporates.

The consensus was clear: data doesn’t diminish the human story; it illuminates it. And when paired with strong storytelling, it transforms awareness into urgency.

Partnerships as scaffolding for accountability

From Nigeria, Dr. Aminu Magashi Garba, Executive Director of the Africa Health Budget Network, framed collaboration as the missing infrastructure in the media ecosystem.

“When the media has access to credible budget data and context,” he said, “stories become sharper - they expose the gaps and drive policy change.”

For Garba, partnerships between journalists and civil society build mutual capacity. They give reporters access to credible data and local experts - and give advocates the visibility they need to influence policy. Sittoni agreed:

“Partnerships in terms of resources supporting journalism, providing data, and linking journalists to communities - that’s what sustains coverage.”

Collaboration, the panel concluded, does not weaken independence - it strengthens it, transforming isolated stories into movements for accountability.

Representation and responsibility in the newsroom

Jeanne Bourgault, CEO of Internews, broadened the discussion from content to culture.

“There’s a massive market failure in the news industry,” she said. “The gender gap of reporters - up through leadership - means communities everywhere are not getting the stories they actually desire.”

She pointed to data showing that when women’s voices, expertise, and experiences make up half of media content, audiences grow and trust increases.

“Getting the right people in the right seat makes a fundamental difference,” Bourgault emphasized.

Her message was not about diversity for its own sake, but about editorial accuracy and social responsibility. Who tells the story determines whose stories are told - and how.

From outrage to outcomes: journalism as a feedback loop

Across the conversation, one thread kept re-emerging: journalism should not stop at exposing problems - it should follow through. Ethical storytelling means revisiting the same communities, tracking whether promises are kept, and spotlighting solutions alongside failures.

Pamela Sittoni put it succinctly: “You’re not just putting out the problem; you’re writing a story that offers a solution.”

This idea reframes journalism as a feedback mechanism, a living accountability loop between citizens, governments, and institutions. When reporters return to measure progress and update audiences, they convert awareness into sustained civic pressure. Progress stops being an abstraction and becomes a story in motion.

A different kind of breaking news

The journalists who gathered for this discussion did not romanticize their profession. They spoke of shrinking budgets, editorial fatigue, and the emotional toll of covering communities in crisis. Yet their reflections converged on a simple truth: telling the truth about health is itself a public-health act.

Every unreported maternal death, every adolescent voice left unheard, is a missed opportunity for justice.

Investing in journalists - in their independence, safety, skills and promoting their access to and understanding of WCAH data and stories - is not charity. It is one of the smartest, most scalable health interventions we can make. When journalism thrives, accountability thrives. And when accountability thrives, so does health.