Boitshepo Balozwi

Doctoral Student

Boitshepo Balozwi is a first-year doctoral student and graduate assistant at the University of Missouri School of Journalism with a focus on Strategic Communication in particular Health Communication. She has an M.A. in Journalism from the University of Arkansas (Fayetteville) acquired via a Fulbright Scholarship in 2018, and an undergraduate degree from the Queensland University of Technology (QUT) in Brisbane, Australia.

Boitshepo is a Health HIV Communication specialist, the former Wellness HIV Coordinator at Scania Botswana, and former Manager for the Women in News (WIN) Leadership Accelerator programme for the Africa region; WIN is an organization under the World Association of News Publishers (WAN-IFRA).

She received Presidential recognition in 2014 for her reporting on HIV and Health issues and has previously served as editor of Flair (Magazine) and The Midweek Sun (Newspaper). Her media experience includes working as a news reader and editor for the Gabz Fm radio station in Gaborone.

One of her passions is HIV advocacy specifically raising awareness on the inequalities that make adolescent girls and young women (AGYW) and women in Southern Africa vulnerable to HIV. As such she manages and edits a Facebook page titled ‘HIV Health News and Updates’ and has made appearances at international conferences and meetings in countries such as South Africa, Sweden and the US. Boitshepo currently serves as a Board Member for the Botswana Network on Ethics, Law and HIV and AIDS (BONELA).

Updated: September 29, 2021