Fulbright Scholars at CARIMAC Seek to Improve Health Communication in Jamaica

KINGSTON- July 27, 2004:

The Caribbean Institute of Media and Communication (CARIMAC) at the University of the West Indies is offering a training course with the aid of the U.S. Government that will help journalists, health promotion practitioners, and video producers more sensitively communicate health issues - including HIV/AIDS - to the public.  

Sponsored by the U.S. government's Fulbright Senior Specialist programme, Kendall Moore, and Jamaican Fulbright Scholar and Acting Director of CARIMAC Livingston White, developed the course with Dr. Nancy Muturi, Sr. Lecturer at CARIMAC. The four-week summer course includes modules in health communication, theory, and video production.

Kendall Moore is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Journalism at the University of Rhode Island where she focuses on journalism and researches HIV and AIDS. In 2001 Moore served as a Fulbright Scholar to Tanzania where she taught journalism at the University of Dar Es Salaam and researched the AIDS epidemic.

Livingston White participated in the Fulbright Graduate Studies programme during 1999-2001 when he pursued a Masters in Communication Theory and Research at the College of Communication at Florida State University in Tallahassee. Since returning to Jamaica, he has been lecturing at CARIMAC in Social Marketing and Development Communication. He now serves as Secretary of the Jamaican Fulbright-Humphrey Alumni Association.

As a result of the success of this course, plans are being developed for future projects between CARIMAC and the Rhode Island Department of Journalism.

The Fulbright programme was founded in 1946 to increase mutual understanding between people of the United States and other countries through the exchange of persons, knowledge and skills.  Since its inception it has benefited more than 42,000 Americans and an additional 158,000 participants from around the world.