DUBAWA ‘Baba Aisha Herbal Medicine’ investigation has emerged winner of the 2023 GlobalFact10 Award for the highest impact fact-check entry.
The global fact-checking community, judged on June 30th, in Seoul, South Korea, DUBAWA’s investigation on the famous low-market medicinal brew, ‘Baba Aisha Herbal Medicine,’ as the winner for the 2023 highest impact fact-check entry at its annual summit.
This was announced at the GlobalFact10, the yearly conclave of the over 100-member community officially known as the International Fact-Checking Network [IFCN].
DUBAWA’s investigation titled “Baba Aisha, Nigeria’s ‘fake doctor’ cashing out on deadly concoction that cures nothing,” competed against four nominees in the highest impact fact-check category.
The nominees for the highest impact fact-check were; DUBAWA (Nigeria), AFP Fact-Checking (France/USA), Myth Detector (Georgia), and Taiwan FactCheck Center (Taiwan).
Part of the impact of the investigation was the probe into the product, sealing of the factory, mopping up of the products from the streets, and the arrest of the said doctor by the regulatory agency, the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC).
The reporter of the investigative story, which took five months to put together, Kemi Busari, said his greatest accomplishment as a journalist is to make an impact.
“I am glad our team won this award. It is a testament to the fact that people worldwide appreciate the little work we do in our closet, and we hope to continue to do more impactful fact-checking that will change people’s lives in Nigeria and West Africa.
I would like to state that the first award for us and me as journalists is the impact we can drive with this story and the positive changes we can effect in people’s lives.
Since we published this, the authorities have lived up to expectation in some ways, and we hope that we can fully bring the culprit to book and sanitise our society of harmful concoctions.”
The International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN) is housed at the Poynter Institute, In Miami, Florida, United States. It was launched in 2015 to bring together the growing community of fact-checkers around the world and advocates of factual information in the global fight against misinformation. IFCN says it enables “fact-checkers through networking, capacity building and collaboration…[and] promotes the excellence of fact-checking to more than 100 organizations worldwide through advocacy, training and global events.”
The IFCN team also monitors trends in the fact-checking field to offer resources to fact-checkers, contribute to public discourse, and provide support for new projects and initiatives that advance accountability in journalism.
