The Association of Health Care Journalists International Health Study Fellowship is a Commonwealth Fund-supported six-month program allowing veteran U.S.-based health care journalists to pursue a story or project comparing a facet of the U.S. health care system to that of another country.
Fellows pursue the projects with the support of their newsrooms or freelance outlets, which commit to publish or air the work. The project could evaluate a key component of the health care system, a health outcome, access, performance, providers, efficiency, or other focal point.
Guidance is provided by AHCJ fellowship leaders through customized seminars, conference calls, and email consultations. The fellowship covers the cost of traveling to the seminars and the international reporting sites, as well as lodging and meal and incidental expense stipends.
The 2024 fellows and their projects are:
- Ariel Cohen, CQ Roll Call — What candidates running in the 2024 election pushing for stricter abortion laws can learn from France’s 14-week abortion ban, and how public perception of abortion limits differ between the U.S. and France.
- Eleanor Klibanoff, Texas Tribune — What Texas can learn from Italy’s big investment in a small-scale solution to its rural primary care problem.
- Avery Martinez, KVIA/ABC-7 El Paso — Exploring mental health stigma — how culture, language, tradition and medicine interact — from Spain to the U.S.–Mexico border.
- Usha Lee McFarling, STAT — Examining why Portugal outperforms the U.S. on key health metrics despite spending less and despite its own significant issues with racial health disparities and structural racism within health care.