The Geneva-based Global Forum for Health Research and The Lancet today announce the winners of their second joint essay competition: Young Voices in Research for Health 2007.

The five winners are Seye Abimbola from Nigeria, Denise Nacif Pimenta from Brazil,
Lee Yung Wong from Malaysia, Laura Sikstrom from Canada and Zhang Lingling from the People's Republic of China.

The competition was open to young professionals (under 30) working on or interested in the broad spectrum of health research. The theme was ‘Equitable access: research challenges for health in developing countries.’

Twice the number of entries were received this year as for the first competition in 2006 and the quality on the whole was very high. The total number of entries was 289: 143 female, 146 male. Entries came from 60 different countries, from individuals of 64 nationalities. In regional terms – both by residence (105) and nationality (106) – the largest number of entries was from Africa.

Forty essays were shortlisted (see the list below) and will be published in an anthology to be launched at the Global Forum's 2007 meeting, Forum 11, in Beijing on 29 October.

For their prize, the winners will take part in Forum 11, whose overall theme was the title of the competition: ‘Equitable access: research challenges for health in developing countries.’ Forum 11 will take place in Beijing from 29 October to 2 November, at the invitation of the Ministry of Health of the People's Republic of China.

The winning essays will also be published in The Lancet online.

Paper copies of Young Voices in Research for Health 2007 can be ordered free of charge from the Global Forum's website www.globalforumhealth.org (for delivery in November) and the essays will also be available on line. A limited number of copies of the first collection of Young Voices in Research for Health are still available – order from the website.

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For additional information, contact:

Susan Jupp, Head of External Relations, Global Forum for Health Research
susan.jupp@globalforumhealth.org +41 22 791 3450

Sarah Ramsay, Executive Editor, The Lancet, sarah.ramsay@lancet.com +44 207 424 4941

The Global Forum for Health Research is an international nongovernmental organization, founded in 1998, whose mission is to focus research efforts on the health of the poor. It is supported by the Rockefeller Foundation, the World Bank, the World Health Organization and the governments of Canada, Ireland, Mexico, Norway and Switzerland and has an annual budget of US$ 4 million.
See www.globalforumhealth.org.

For The Lancet, an independent and authoritative voice in global medicine, see www.thelancet.com.

The winners are:

Seye Abimbola, Nigeria, Of patents and patients

Denise Nacif Pimenta, Brazil, Can the 'North' learn from developing countries: question or affirmation?

Laura Sikstrom, Canada, "For the future for tomorrow": evidence-based research in food security interventions

Lee Yung Wong, Malaysia, The face of equitable access: going beyond health, to life for all

Zhang Lingling, PRC, Where have all the barefoot doctors gone in pursuing a more equitable new health care system in China?

Other shortlisted essays

Alisha Apale, Canada, Gospel from the ghetto: how will your notes help us?

Julio Armas, Cuba, Graying of the global South: claiming a right to age with dignity

Mildred Asiimwe, Uganda, Access to health information in developing countries: challenges and the way forward

Benjamin Terrycarson Baba, Nigeria, Equitable access: research challenges for health in developing countries

Sarah Barkley, Canada, Research: making the world more inequitable? Insights from the eyes of a novice

Rajaie Batniji, USA, The other 10-90 gap: lessons learned from non-communicable disease research

Amy Baughman, USA, A diamond in the rough: thoughts on million dollar biomedical malaria research in Mali

Michael Callaghan, Canada, The Geneva Project

Chen Mengru, PRC, Delivery in Shanghai: demands from and supplies to vulnerable rural immigrant women

Andrew Deonarine, Canada, The real 10/90 gap

Anoop Dhamangaonkar, India, Health research in developing countries: challenges and possible solutions for its improvement

Ahizechukwu Eke, Nigeria, Forging cultural links into health research: the 'C-A-R-E' model

Emily Esmaili, Iran-USA, Mountains, monsoons and modern medicine: barriers to healthcare research and access in Himalayan India

Dashiell Gantner, Australia, Health access inequities in post-Communist China

Asieh Golozar, Iran, Rural doctors, evidence-based medicine: the dilemma of best research evidence

Amy Gray, Australia, Equitable access to research capacity as a tool for health

Matthew Griffith, USA, Research: swimming against the current of the Amazon

Hanna Guimaraes, Portugal, Pain relief: equitable access for children

Amitha Kalaichandran, Canada, Pedagogy of the researched: inequity as an instrument for poor global health

Farrah Mateen, Canada, The international medical journal?

Leah Mwai, Kenya, Demystifying science in the developing world: how can scientists be agents of change?

Elisa Nabel, USA, Lessons from Caio: community implemented health research

Eunice Ndirangu, Kenya, Challenges for health research in developing countries: stereotypes and cultural issues

Pin-Quan Ng, Singapore, The fever at the bottom of the pyramid: towards private-sector and market-oriented solutions for the 10/90 gap

Ziad Obermeyer, USA, Closing the evidence gap for public health interventions in developing countries

Asmar Osman, Bangladesh, Access to public health centres for the common people in a developing country: a research challenge

Vesper Fe Marie Ramos, Philippines, I also have a dream: a young doctor's thoughts on health research in developing countries

Kingsley Ukwaja, Nigeria, Equitable access to maternal health: the role of social science research in developing countries

Rachel Wake, UK, What would Wilberforce think? Two hundred years on and the 'abolished' slave trade rages on unnoticed

Sarah Walpole, UK, Research is power

Russell Walther, USA, A novel economic approach to solving the 10/90 gap

Blessing Wazara, Zimbabwe, Mobilizing the intellectual capital of developing nations

Yohann White, Jamaica, Health looks better on paper

Eugene Yim, USA, Understanding the North Korean perspective: a unique role of research in improving humanitarian collaboration

Gelza Mae Zabat, Philippines, Health from the eyes of a citizen