Jennifer Yang is an award-winning journalist with the Toronto Star, where she currently writes about identity and inequality. Previously, Jennifer covered the global health beat for four years, writing from Bhutan, Iceland, Japan, Geneva, Malawi and Sierra Leone, where she was the first Canadian journalist to cover the 2014 Ebola outbreak from West Africa. Jennifer is a two-time UN Foundation press fellow and won a National Newspaper Award for her explanatory feature on the 2010 Chilean mining disaster. She was also part of the Star’s breaking news team that won a National Newspaper Award in 2011 for its coverage of the G20 summit. Born and raised in Edmonton, Alberta, Jennifer speaks Mandarin Chinese and has previously reported for the Globe and Mail, Edmonton Journal and Metro Toronto.
Read the article: She was ‘the woman who loses all the babies’
JENNIFER’S PROJECT:
Rh disease is the public health success story many Canadians under 50 have never heard of — likely because they’ve never had to worry about the deadly affliction. Caused by a blood incompatibility between mother and fetus, the disease can have serious consequences for newborns: brain damage or even death. Today, Rh disease can be easily prevented, thanks to a prophylactic injection that Canadian scientists helped develop.
While Rh disease has been eradicated in wealthy nations, it persists in lower-income countries, where health infrastructure is poor and an estimated 100,000 newborns are killed every year. For her fellowship project, Jennifer will collaborate with the Global Reporting Centre in British Columbia to profile efforts to wipe out Rh disease and explore why this important public health issue — with a ready-made cure — continues to persist beyond our borders.
The Fellowship for International Development Reporting encouraged journalists to push the boundaries of daily foreign coverage – which is often focused on disaster or crisis – and set new standards for reporting on the developing world. Fellowship recipients were provided with $25,000 to undertake a substantial reporting project which helps Canadians develop a greater understanding of the complex issues facing the developing world.
The Fellowship has two objectives: to encourage ambitious foreign reporting during an era of tighter news budgets; and, to foster a community of Canadian journalists who share an interest in reporting original topics from the developing world.
The Fellowship for International Development Reporting was a joint initiative of the Canadian Association of Journalists(CAJ) and Aga Khan Foundation Canada (AKFC).
