Mesha Science Chief Executive Officer Mr. Daniel Agahn: Photo//Courtesy
Media for Environment, Science, Health and Agriculture (MESHA Science) will host the sixth African Conference of Science Journalists in Nairobi next year.
According to MESHA Science CEO Daniel Aghan, the conference will be held from April 26 to 28, 2027.
The conference will bring together science journalists and other stakeholders working in science communication.
The organization is expecting more than 200 journalists to attend the three-day conference, which will include two days of discussions and a day of field tours.
MESHA Chairman Bozo Bozo Jenje, who is also chairing the local organising committee, said the conference will build on the organisation’s two-decade history of telling the African science story.
“MESHA seeks to sustain its two decade long history of telling the African science story and remain the centre of excellent science journalism that it is.” He said
He said the conference would further strengthen MESHA’s position as a centre of excellence in science journalism.
The conference comes at a time when the public is increasingly relying on digital platforms for information, including information on science, health and other issues that directly affect people’s lives.
UNESCO reports that 67per cent of people aged between 18 and 35 in Africa rely on social media for news, while 62 per cent of digital content creators surveyed do not rigorously fact-check information before sharing it.
The scale of the information challenge has been particularly evident in health communication. The World Health Organization reported that information on COVID-19 was shared or viewed more than 16 billion times across the 47 countries of the WHO African Region between November 2020 and March 2021, while African fact-checking organisations had debunked more than 1,300 misleading reports.
These challenges have increased the need for journalists who can scrutinise scientific claims, interpret research and communicate complex findings accurately to the public.
MESHA has over the years focused on strengthening specialised journalism in science, health, agriculture and environmental reporting through training, conferences and other professional development programmes.
In September 2026, MESHA, in partnership with the Solutions Journalism Network (SJN), selected six African newsrooms for the inaugural Africa Climate Beacons Newsroom Initiative.
The newsrooms were selected from 133 applications and will take part in a seven-month programme focused on strengthening climate solutions reporting, newsroom capacity, audience engagement and impact tracking.
The initiative, according to Mr. Agahn, is intended to move climate coverage beyond simply reporting problems towards examining evidence-based responses to climate challenges.
“The initiative brings together newsrooms from across English-speaking Africa to strengthen climate reporting, deepen newsroom capacity and shift coverage beyond problem-focused reporting towards evidence-based responses to climate challenges,” Aghan said.
The organisation has also worked with scientists and journalists to improve the communication of scientific research and strengthen public understanding of science-related issues.
In 2025, MESHA hosted the World Congress of Agricultural Journalists in Nairobi, bringing together more than 200 journalists from 40 countries for discussions, training and field visits focused on agriculture and agricultural journalism.
The organisation has hosted the African Conference of Science Journalists since 2012, making the 2027 meeting part of its long-running effort to strengthen science journalism and science communication on the continent.
Aghan, in a public announcement , said MESHA will host the East African Conference of Science Journalists at a later date.
More details about the conference will be updated as soon as the organisation releases further information on the programme.
