The Hindu : National : New prize for journalism

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Wednesday, Nov 14, 2007
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New prize for journalism

Sarah Hiddleston

Cape Town: A new prize for journalism was announced here at the World Conference of the International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease by the Stop TB and Lilly MDR partnerships. The award will recognise reporting and commentary in print and on the Web that increases public knowledge of TB and resistant strains of the disease in developing countries.

One fifth of the world’s TB cases are concentrated in India — two people in the country die every three minutes of the disease. Roughly 3 per cent of India’s 1.8 million annual new cases are thought to be multi-drug resistant (MDR), but 12 per cent of people whose TB re-emerges have the drug resistant strain. The World Health Organisation estimates that during a lifetime a person infected with MDR-TB will infect 20 others.

Because India’s population density is so high this is a matter of concern.

“India is one of the top three high burden countries in the world and population growth is huge… More than the national TB programme, it’s a problem of society, of making sure everyone in India is aware of TB. And I don’t think we are yet there,” Dr. Marcos Espinal, Executive Secretary of the World Health Organisation hosted Stop TB Partnership, told The Hindu.

The award winners will be announced at the next IUALTD conference in November 2008. Articles must be printed between March 1, 2007 and March 31, 2008 and the entry deadline is April 30, 2008.

The award carries a cash prize of $3,000. Entrants must be resident in the country where the article is published and write in English or Hindi with an English translation.

“We deny TB is there,” Stop TB Ambassador Anna Cataldi told reporters, “But this disease from the past still exists. TB is curable… Sharing information helps prevent the disease and get treatment to those who need it.”

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