Meet Our 2014 Health and Development Fellows

The IRP has selected two multimedia reporting teams to report on pressing global health and development issues.

We are pleased to announce two multimedia reporting teams who will focus on global health and development, specifically in South America. Both teams have reported on IRP fellowships in the past, and their 2014 IRP grants allowed them to return to important international topics in regions where the IRP has had a strong focus.

Ecuador: Ruxandra Guidi and Bear Guerra

Ruxandra Guidi has over twelve years of experience working in public radio, magazines, and multimedia, and has reported throughout the United States, the Caribbean, South and Central America, as well as Mexico and the U.S.-Mexico border region. Previously, she reported on foreign aid in Haiti as a 2008 IRP fellow.

Bear Guerra is a photographer whose work addresses globalization, development, and social and environmental justice issues. The duo composes Fonografia Collective, a documentary storytelling venture.

For their 2014 IRP fellowship. Guidi and Guerra are reporting on youth movements, migration and healthcare provision in South America, particularly Ecuador.

Brazil: Sarika Bansal and Almudena Toral

Sarika Bansal is an independent journalist who specializes in social innovation and global health. Her writing and photographs have appeared in The New York Times, Forbes, The Guardian, The Atlantic, Christian Science Monitor, Huffington Post, and several other publications.

Almudena Toral is an award-winning Spanish visual journalist and multimedia producer based in New York who specializes in web documentary and digital video. Her work has been published by The New York Times, TIME, The Guardian, El País and other outlets in the U.S., Europe and Latin America.

Bansal and Toral met while reporting on health and development on IRP’s 2013 Tanzania trip. This 2014 fellowship to Brazil allows them to continue the reporting they began in Tanzania on drug addiction and other issues, drawing comparisons and contrasts between the two countries.

These fellowships, which are supported with a grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, will provide the four multimedia journalists with the opportunity to tell under-covered stories in innovative and exciting ways. Follow them on Twitter!