Two journalists from Manipur, Imphal Free Press reporter Phurailatpam Keny and Kh Athouba of Hueiyen Lanpao were on Thursday awarded the first HIV-AIDS Media Fellowship 2021-22 by the Manipur State AIDS Control Society (MACS).

In a contract signing function held at Old Secretariat on Thursday, MACS project director Haobam Rosita handed over the contracts to the selected journalists. In the five-month fellowship programme, the fellows will be publishing eight news stories on HIV-AIDS, for which an amount of Rs 50,000 each will be provided by MACS.

Kh Athouba is a resident editor in Hueiyen Lanpao and Phurailatpam Keny is a staff reporter in Imphal Free Press.

MACS started the media fellowship programme for the first time with an objective to provide a learning opportunity for journalists to experience India’s National AIDS Control Programme (NACP) through various HIV and AIDS prevention and control programmes initiated in the state by MACS.