Sharing essential knowledge with health researchers and policy makers

Communities of practice

Neglected Diseases in the News: A Content Analysis of Recent International Media Coverage Focussing on Leishmaniasis and Trypanosomiasis

18 Jun 2008

Marcia Triunfol

Source: PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases (see original article)

Citation: Balasegaram M, Balasegaram S, Malvy D, Millet P (2008) Neglected Diseases in the News: A Content Analysis of Recent International Media Coverage Focussing on Leishmaniasis and Trypanosomiasis. PLoS Negl Trop Dis 2(5): e234. doi:10.1371/journal.pntd.0000234

There is a word in German to express the feeling people have when something bad happens to others: schadenfreude. Psychologists use the term often, as an attempt to describe this embarrassing side of our human nature. Schadenfreude allows us to say in a single word ‘Thank God it wasn’t me!’

A group of researchers from France and the UK wanted to know how interested the western and English-language media have been in the suffering of the poor from the neglected tropical diseases (NTDs).

To do so, the group searched for the names of three specific diseases considered as neglected – namely African trypanosomiasis, leishmaniasis, and Chagas’ disease – and for the term ‘neglected disease’ in 11 leading international news settings.

The study searched for news published from January 2003 to June 2007 in the following media settings: BBC online, CNN.com, Agence France Press (AFP), Time magazine, the Economist, Financial Times, Guardian, Daily Telegraph, New York Times, Washington Post, and Los Angeles Times. The 2003-2007 period was chosen in an attempt to investigate whether the launch of the Drugs for Neglected Diseases Initiative (DNDi), created by Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) and by the Institute of One World Health (IOWH), had any impact on the media coverage. Such programmes have supported the creation of new public-private partnerships for the development of new drugs for neglected diseases, and therefore could have helped increase the media interest in the subject. (For more on DNDi see the TropIKA interview with its Executive Director, Dr Bernard Pecoul,)

The study found no evidence of any significant increase in the media coverage on NTDs. The coverage during the 53-month period was generally very low, as compared with that for HIV/AIDS. Around 10 articles per media setting were found during the period, which means no more than two stories per year. Not even the activities of those celebrities who have been engaged in helping to raise awareness of neglected diseases has changed this picture. Conversely, AFP alone published more than 1000 stories on HIV/AIDS during the same period.

The study also found that, in the few stories published, it was mostly university researchers who were quoted, whereas international agencies such as WHO had low visibility. The lack of medical/scientific breakthroughs and the difficulties in getting stories first-hand are the main reasons for the low coverage, some journalists told the researchers.

The study shows that with few incentives or advocates to fight for NTDs, the western world keeps forgetting about the diseases that affect one sixth of the world’s population. Perhaps there is just one thing worse than knowing that millions of people die every day from neglected diseases. It is the knowledge that NTDs simply don’t make it into the news.

Copyright Balasegaram et al 2008. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Source

Title:
Neglected diseases in the news: a content analysis of recent international media coverage focussing on leishmaniasis and trypanosomiasis.

Authors:
Balasegaram M, Balasegaram S, Malvy D, Millet P

References:
PLoS Negl Trop Dis 2008: Vol. 2 no. 5, pp. e234

Abstract:
BACKGROUND: Although the pharmaceutical industry's "neglect" of neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) has been investigated, no study evaluating media coverage of NTDs has been published. Poor media coverage exacerbates the neglect. This study aimed to investigate, describe, and analyse international media coverage of "neglected diseases" in general and three specific NTDs-African trypanosomiasis, leishmaniasis, and Chagas disease-from 1 January 2003 to 1 June 2007. METHODS: Archives of 11 leading international, English-language media were searched. A content analysis was done, coding for media organisation, date, author, type of report, slant, themes, and "frames". Semi-structured interviews with journalists and key informants were conducted for further insight. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Only 113 articles in a 53-month time period met the inclusion criteria, with no strong trends or increases in coverage. Overall, the BBC had the highest coverage with 20 results, followed by the Financial Times and Agence France Presse. CNN had the least coverage with one result. The term "neglected diseases" had good media currency and "sleeping sickness" was far more widely used than trypanosomiasis. The disease most covered was leishmaniasis and the least covered was Chagas. Academic researchers were most commonly quoted as a main source, while the World Health Organization (WHO) and pharmaceutical industry were the least quoted. Journalists generally agreed NTDs had not been adequately covered, but said a lack of real news development and the need to cater to domestic audiences were major obstacles for NTD reporting. All journalists said health agencies, particularly WHO, were not communicating adequately about the burden of NTDs. CONCLUSIONS: Public health agencies need to raise priority for NTD advocacy. Innovative strategies, such as reporting grants or creating a network of voices, may be needed.

PMID: 18478048
Full text: HTML

Comments | Related Articles