For the World Health Project Essay Contest, we received nearly 1,000 essay submissions. Over the course of several months, we read through every essay and selected the top ten essays to be judged by Dr. Arthur Kleinman, Professor of Medical Anthropology at Harvard Medical School and author of What Really Matters, The Illness Narratives, and Patients and Healers in the Context of Culture. Professor Kleinman selected the winner of the essay contest, who will receive the $500 prize. The winning essay is Essay 8 -- Healthcare Personnel Shortage -- Kathmandu, Nepal. An email to the winner and other participants will be forthcoming.
The Top Ten essays are below. While we received hundreds of excellent essays, we feel that these essays demonstrate exceptional rhetoric, originality, specificity, and analysis. In addition to the Top Ten Essays, additional well-written essays will soon be posted to the Interactive Map Page.
Top Ten
Essay 1 -- Mental Health -- Portland, Oregon
Essay 2 -- Malaria -- Uganda
Essay 3 -- School Lunches and Nutrition -- Howard County, Maryland
Essay 4 -- Poliomyelitis -- Nigeria
Essay 5 -- Loneliness in Nursing Homes -- Grand Rapids, Michigan
Essay 6 -- HIV Among Sex Workers -- Bangkok, Thailand
Essay 7 -- Pregnancies in the Homeless -- British Columbia, Canada
Essay 8 -- Healthcare Personnel Shortage -- Kathmandu, Nepal
Essay 9 -- Diabetes Management in Public Schools -- Nashville, Tennessee
Essay 10 -- Organ Donation -- Woburn, MA
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World health today is at a turning point. Trillions of dollars are going into healthcare and research around the world, but people are only beginning to understand the health and healthcare issues facing the world today. In order to use resources effectively, one must fully understand these problems facing the world today. The first step in solving problems is discovering them:
The WorldHealthProject.org moves beyond statistics. We know that around the world more than 33 million people live with HIV or AIDS. We know that 25 million people were diagnosed with cancer in the last five years. In some parts of Africa, there are up to 50,000 patients per doctor. These numbers reveal problems, but they also tell us very little. The numbers do not show the people behind these issues. They do not show a health problem's effect on a community, nor do they show the millions of families, friends, and loved ones affected by disease and other health challenges. For every statistic, there are countless stories and perspectives that reveal the impact of health problems throughout the world.
By exploring health issues affecting each of us in our community, we can give a voice to each issue and discover areas in healthcare that can be improved. Our mantra is that one must see a problem from multiple perspectives before one can engineer a solution. By forming a personal connection to a health issue and by becoming an active member of our communities, we can work together to improve health and healthcare. The World Health Project provides people the chance to write about health issues from a personal perspective. In addition to the cathartic effect of writing, the writing will enable other people to learn about health problems in an intimate, tangible way. The Submit Page will soon be re-activated to allow visitors to submit an essay on a health issue. Also, the Interactive Map will soon be up so that you can view people's submissions, sorted by subject matter or location. |
