Contest: Seeking Nominations For Untold Stories In Global Health

Do you know any global health stories that should be getting coverage — but are overlooked by the media?

That's the question behind the Global Health Untold Stories contest, which was first held last year, sponsored by Global Health Now and the Consortium of Universities for Global Health (CUGH).

The contest is back in 2016, and the Goats and Soda blog is joining as a cosponsor.

The goal is to bring vital but neglected stories to the public eye.

We invite our readers to nominate a health issue that deserves urgent attention but has largely been underreported or ignored by the media. We'd suggest focusing on a specific problem in a specific part of the world. Your nomination should include any data and evidence available as well as contact information for groups working on the issue.

There's more information at the Global Health Now web site, as well as a nomination form. The contest deadline is February 28.

The prize for the winning entry is free registration for the 2016 Annual CUGH Global Health Conference, to be held April 9-11 in San Francisco. That's where the winner and runners-up will be announced.

The entry that won last year focused on an infection called mycetoma, a flesh-eating, bone-destroying fungus. Caught early, the infection can be halted with the right drugs and treatments. But in poor countries, people who contract mycetoma aren't always diagnosed in early stages and medications may not be available. Our blog ran a story about the toll the disease has taken on a 26-year-old, whose college career was derailed and whose leg was amputated. A proposal to add mycetoma to the World Health Organization's list of neglected diseases will be considered at a May meeting; inclusion could bring more funding for research into this condition.