Deadliest Bite: A Defrontera Special Series on Malaria
This is how Defrontera reports on malaria beyond the numbers and how media houses and scientists can join in the storytelling.
To test a hypothesis, I asked five people — two adults above 30, a 6-year-old, and teenagers — a question: “Which is the world’s deadliest animal?”
The answers were lion, snake, shark, and even Thanos, a character from Marvel Comics.
No one mentioned the tiny insect that kills more than 600,000 people every year and has made Kenya its home: the mosquito. Every time scientists seem to have trapped the mosquito — and the parasite it carries — the two prove sly enough to come out on top through resistance to insecticides and the medicines meant to kill the parasite, among other survival strategies.
While we acknowledge the hard work of scientists in keeping us safe from malaria, our over-reliance on them — delegating all responsibility to science — is precisely where the problem starts. Malaria is more than biology. It is about politics and the choices that governments and donors make. It is about culture and geography. Even though they are neighbours, you are more likely to die of malaria in Busia County than in Bungoma.
Unlike our colleagues in mainstream media with military-like deadlines, niche platforms like ours have the time and modest resources to stay with a story longer and to bring insights that only time can reveal.
So today, with the story on ivermectin, we launch special coverage on malaria: Deadliest Bite, Kenya vs the World’s Deadliest Animal. Whether it is a long-form story on our website, a video on our YouTube channel, or these short videos on Instagram and TikTok, we will follow the mosquito’s trail, from rural clinics to global boardrooms.
What makes our storytelling unique is our use of explanatory journalism, a technique that has been perfected by our international peers such as Vox, ProPublica and The New York Times but not widely embraced in Kenya. We do not just tell you, “Malaria is deadly.” We explain how and why through:
- Working with our data scientists to track malaria trends in Kenya and Africa in general.
- Using investigative journalism to expose failures when systems do not do what they were created and funded by taxpayers to do.
- Talk to the biggest malaria researchers to spotlight innovations that show potential to reduce mortality.
- Guiding policymakers, through meetings, emails, and newsletters, to data and solutions so they not only see the danger but act on the evidence.
- Giving the communities in Africa a centre stage in our reporting by reporting on their indigenous knowledge and resilience.
The story of malaria cannot be told only as a statistic. It is a systemic story — of how the deadliest animal reveals the collisions of healthcare, power, and policy.
This is how you can work with us.
Media houses: We can collaborate on joint reporting. You will benefit from our specialist reporters in healthcare and the doctors and data scientists on our team. We especially encourage community radios in western Kenya and the Coast — where malaria is endemic — to work with us. You save field costs and gain stellar reporting. Media houses in African countries with high malaria burden are welcome to collaborate with us.
Scientists, researchers, NGOs, and implementing partners: Share the data and results you have gathered on malaria. Do you have a technique that encouraged women to attend antenatal care for their Intermittent Preventive Treatment in Pregnancy (IPTp)? What about an innovation on case management for severe malaria? Let us spotlight it.
Journalism schools and think tanks: Can we hold webinars and master classes on how to report on malaria? Defrontera has grown its newsletter significantly in a short time. How did we do it?
Funders: We are a non-profit newsroom. Your support can help scale our evidence-driven, explanatory coverage.
Email us at [email protected] or connect via LinkedIn with me, Defrontera's Editor in Chief, or our CEO, Verah Okeyo.
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