ISNTD Festival 2021 Award Winners
Each year, the ISNTD Festival brings together some of the most exciting creative work aiming to tackle complex challenges in tropical and infectious diseases. Here are the winners of this year's 5th annual ISNTD Festival awards, and their beautiful, powerful, moving pieces of work, with some inspiring and innovative collaborations between the creative industries and the field of public health. Congratulations!
Film
Mundo Sano is the winner of the ISNTD Festival 2021 Film Award. The films "Equity" and "Heritage" place Chagas disease in a global context & show how it affects many types of communities, threatening equity and the right to health itself. Find out more about Mundo Sano's work here.
Animation
Eisai is the winner of the ISNTD Festival 2021 Animation Award. In an engaging, universally accessible and sensitive manner, "Leave No One Behind" narrates the burden of lymphatic filariasis on affected persons, as well as global efforts to treat and prevent this neglected tropical diseases. Find out more about Eisai's work in sustainability and its Human Health Care philosophy here.
Khundyz Bolatkhan,Public Relations, Eisai Co., Ltd speaks more about the award and what it means to Eisai in the Infectious Thoughts interview
Find out more in Eisai's press release here: "An Animation Featuring Lymphatic Filariasis Elimination Activities Receives Animation Award at International Society for Neglected Tropical Diseases Festival 2021"
Photo
The Affected People of Kwara and Kaduna, in partnership with COUNTDOWN on NTDs and Sightsavers, are the winners of the ISNTD Festival 2021 Photo Award. To create these photo books, cameras were handed to affected persons to document their lived experiences and those of their communities, thus empowering participants to shape their own narratives. Such photovoice participatory approaches are crucial to better understand and frame the reality of neglected tropical diseases, and can have significant impact in informing disease prevention and control programs. To find out more about this work, please click here.
App
The app and game "Plague Inc: The Cure" is the winner of the ISNTD Festival 2021 App Award. In this game, developed by Ndemic Creations, with the support of the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness (CEPI), the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network (GOARN), players must try to save the world by controlling a global outbreak, simulating issues related to global pandemic response and balancing social, economic and global health factors as well as maintaining public trust. To find out more about this work, please click here. Download the game from the App Store and Google Play.
Art
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The artwork "Lab-on-Chip" is the winner of the ISNTD Festival 2021 Art Award, and has been created by the Digital Diagnostics for Africa Network at Imperial College London in collaboration with the designer Jian Zhang. The African continent has the greatest health burden from infectious diseases, but also the greatest gap between diagnostic needs and diagnostic provision. Recent advances in digital diagnostics, which often combine molecular accuracy with point-of-care format and mobile connectivity, create an opportunity for a radical transformation of the diagnostic ecosystem in Africa. Rather than emulating the traditional diagnostic laboratory systems in the Global North, African countries have the potential to pioneer new models of healthcare designed around digital diagnostics. Jian Zhang's artwork captures the ambitious vision of the Digital Diagnostics for Africa Network as well as the complexities of the task at hand in a clear, concise visual manner. Find out more about Jian Zhang's work here and the Digital Diagnostics for Africa Network here.
Mass Media
The campaign "Protection, truth and playing your part" created by ASCEND West and Central Africa and M&C Saatchi World Services is the winner of the ISNTD Festival 2021 Mass Media Award. This ambitious campaign was launched to adapt NTD programmes to support the COVID-19 response in eleven African countries. A 360° approach across numerous media varied by programme country and included mass media behaviour change campaigns on COVID-19, training of health workers, improved monitoring and supervision, thus reaching tens of millions of people across Africa, as well as the provision of consumables to prevent health systems from being overwhelmed. Find out more about the ASCEND & M&C Saatchi World Services "Protection, truth and playing your part" here.
Campaigns
The project "New Face for Leprosy" is the winner of the ISNTD Festival 2021 Campaign Award. This ambitious program brings together photography and public health, and seeks to share a more positive image of leprosy and affected persons, in which patients are not stigmatised by their disease and view it as a treatable infection. Negative images and depictions of leprosy and affected persons is not only an inaccurate representation of the disease, but also compounds stigmatising, isolation and mental ill health. By changing the images which are seen around the world of leprosy and affected persons, this project seeks to support and empower affected persons, as well as increase treatment. The project was founded by Prof Diana Lockwood, Emeritus professor of Tropical Medicine, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, and is run in partnership with Tom Bradley, artist and photographer. Please click here to find out more about the New Face for Leprosy project.
The International Society for Neglected Tropical Diseases
