Editorial Standards

JOSEPH MMWA covers health and medical developments across Kenya, Africa and the world.

Our coverage includes:

• Medical research
• HIV & AIDS
• Vaccines
• Cancer
• Infectious diseases
• Public health
• Health policy
• AI and health
• Digital health
• Global health
• Healthcare systems
• Emerging medical developments

We seek stories that matter to patients, communities, health professionals, researchers, policymakers and the wider public.

Medical news frequently arrives with dramatic language.

Breakthrough. Revolutionary. Miracle. Game-changing.

We do not adopt such language simply because it appears in a press release, social-media post, institutional announcement or promotional statement.

We ask what the evidence actually demonstrates.

A promising laboratory result is not automatically a treatment.

An early clinical study is not automatically proof of effectiveness.

An association is not automatically causation.

A study involving animals is not evidence that the same result has been demonstrated in humans.

Our language should match the strength of the evidence.

JOSEPH MMWA may publish original journalism, explain developments reported elsewhere, aggregate important health news and provide context around research and public-health events.

When the essential reporting originates with another journalist, publication, researcher or institution, we seek to identify and attribute that work.

We do not present another journalist's reporting as our own.

Adding context, explanation or verification does not remove the responsibility to acknowledge the original source.

We write for people who may not have a medical or scientific background.

Complex information should therefore be made understandable without stripping away the uncertainty, limitations or context that make it accurate.

We aim for clarity without oversimplification.

Behind every health statistic are people.

We avoid unnecessary sensationalism, dehumanising descriptions and imagery that treats suffering as spectacle.

We seek to explain the human consequences of health developments without exploiting fear, grief or vulnerability.

A headline should earn the reader's attention rather than manipulate it.

We favour headlines that are:

• clear;
• specific;
• relevant;
• accurate;
• proportionate to the evidence.

We do not deliberately create a misleading information gap simply to generate clicks.

When a story is still unfolding, we may publish information before every detail is known.

In those situations, uncertainty should be visible.

We distinguish confirmed information from claims, preliminary reports and information that remains under verification.

Being first is valuable. Being wrong is costly. Accuracy takes precedence.

Science is not static.

New evidence can strengthen, weaken or overturn previous conclusions.

When evidence is preliminary or disputed, we aim to communicate that uncertainty rather than manufacture certainty where none exists.

Changing a conclusion because better evidence becomes available is not inconsistency. It is responsible journalism.

Editorial decisions should remain independent of advertisers, sponsors, commercial partners and outside interests.

Commercial relationships do not purchase editorial coverage.

Sponsored or commercial content should be clearly distinguishable from independent editorial journalism.

Relevant conflicts of interest should be disclosed when they could reasonably affect the credibility or interpretation of coverage.

We consider financial, professional and institutional relationships when assessing potential conflicts.

When we discover that we have published a material factual error, we correct it.

We do not believe that correcting an error weakens journalism. It strengthens accountability.

Our Corrections & Fact-Checking page explains how we handle this process.

Before publication, we ask:

Is it accurate? Is it supported? Have we understood the evidence correctly? Have we attributed the original work fairly? Have we given the reader enough context? Would we stand behind this story if the reader challenged it tomorrow?

That is the standard we aim to meet.