Press release -
Mail & Guardian Health Editor wins Discovery Health Journalism Award
The independent judging panel described Mia’s work as demonstrating excellent writing skills, an ability to use a diversity of relevant sources and good research which leaves her readers well informed about the issues as well as their context. While she shines a torch on official neglect, she also highlights the heroism of individual doctors working tirelessly in the most difficult of conditions to serve the people.
According to Discovery Health Chief Executive Officer Dr Jonathan Broomberg, healthcare is becoming an increasingly central issue in society. “Healthcare reporting spans health economics, the regulatory environment and consumer health issues – to name but a few. Reporting on these wide-reaching and sometimes emotive issues is often complex.
“We would like to salute all journalists who are highlighting critical healthcare issues with flair, passion and professionalism, especially the finalists and winners of this year’s awards.”
Prof Tawane Kupe, Convenor of the judging panel, said the panel was “pleased by the number of entries focusing on systemic problems in the healthcare system, an interesting dimension of this year’s entries was a particular focus on those doctors who choose despite the difficult conditions to serve in rural health facilities,” he added.
Winners of the Discovery Health Journalism Awards 2012
Discovery Health Journalist of the Year
Mia Malan, Mail & Guardian
Best Health News Reporting
Katharine Child, The Times, Live-saving Drug on Hold
Best Health Television Reporting
Amalia Christoforou and Wynand Grobler, Carte Blanche, Smart Drugs
Best Health Radio Journalism
Ayanda Mkwananzi, Health-e News Service for SAFM, I am now a Conqueror
Best Health Analysis and Commentary
Antoinette Pienaar, Beeld, Etiek van Stamselle
Best Health Economics
Tamar Kahn, Business Day, Rising Fees at Public Hospitals
Best Investigative Journalism
Estelle Brits and Eugene Coetzee, The Herald, A Right gone Wrong
Best Health Journalism: Foreign Media
Darren Taylor, Voice of America, The Near-Absence of Health Care Delivery in Rural South Africa
Best Healthy Lifestyle Feature
Lindsay Ord, Daily News, Barefoot Running ... is less really more?
Best Health Consumer Reporting and Feature Writing
Mia Malan, Mail & Guardian, Rural hospitals in terminal crisis
loveLife Young Health Journalist of the Year
Fathima Simjee,Topics
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Discovery information
Discovery is an authorised financial services provider.
Discovery operates in the healthcare cover market in South Africa, the United Kingdom and China; the life assurance market in South Africa and the United Kingdom; as well as the long-term savings and investment market, and short-term insurance market in South Africa.
Vitality, Discovery’s wellness programme, is the world’s largest scientific, incentive-based wellness solution. It provides individual and corporate wellness initiatives in South Africa, the United Kingdom, the United States of America and China. The global Vitality membership base now exceeds 3.4 million lives.
Discovery’s core purpose is to make people healthier, and to enhance and protect their lives through financial products that clients need and want.
South African operations
Discovery Health
- Launched in 1992, Discovery Health isSouth Africa’s largest healthcare funder and manager of medical schemes. It manages 14 medical schemes.
- This includes the Discovery Health Medical Scheme, which has a 50% share in the open medical schemes market, making it South Africa’s largest open medical scheme.
- Discovery Health covers more than 2.6 million lives.
- The Scheme is the only one in South Africa to enjoy an AA+ rating for its claims paying ability, the highest possible credit rating from international rating agency Global Credit Ratings.
- The Discovery Health Medical Scheme holds over R7.4 billion in reserves.
- Discovery Health pioneered consumer-driven healthcare in South Africa with the introduction of innovations like the Medical Savings Account and its wellness programme, Vitality.
- Discovery Health is continuously innovating new products and tools to enhance the quality of care members receive, including HealthID, an iPad-based application for doctors launched in 2012.
- Discovery Health was voted the top medical aid brand in the Sunday Times Top Brands survey for both 2010 and 2011.
- Discovery Health was voted the top healthcare product supplier at the 2010, 2011 and 2012 Financial Intermediaries Association of Southern Africa (FIA) Awards.
- In 2012, the PricewaterhouseCoopers fifth biennial Strategic and Emerging Issues in South African Insurance survey rated Discovery Health’s insurance products as the leader in the industry.
