Highlights 2013: health through the lens

Abstract

The worn out shoes of a 6-year-old girl in a Tanzanian orphanage. Counterfeit drugs in a back street of Lahore. Prostheses made from recycled material used by landmine victims in Cambodia. Children collecting water from a pump in Haiti. The hands of an elderly woman with severe rheumatoid arthritis in a remote African village. A window in a medical school hostel in Kathmandu, Nepal, repaired with old radiographs and CT scans. These are just some of the images that have featured in The Lancet’s annual Highlights photography competition since 2009. The fl eeting moment captured in a photograph can be a powerful way to highlight health stories from around the world—from global health to clinical medicine, from the individual person to populations. We invite readers to submit photographs to Highlights 2013 that capture any health issue in a compelling way. This year The Lancet and The Lancet Global Health will run the competition together. Winning photographs will be published in The Lancet’s fi nal issue of 2013 and might also be selected for the front cover of The Lancet Global Health. Each entry should be submitted with 300 accompanying words that put the image in context. Submissions should not have been previously published in print or online. If a person or patient is featured then you must obtain and keep written consent from the individual or, where this is not an option, their next of kin. Please complete the patient consent section of the Author statements form while retaining copies of the signed forms. We also encourage you to submit any additional media to support your submission online, such as video or audio features. All photographs—colour or black and white—should be submitted through our online editorial submission system, along with the required text and any supporting material for online publication. Please select Lancet Photograph as the article type. If a digital camera is used please set it to the highest possible quality setting and submit images as JPEG fi les. If you are using a fi lm camera please submit an 8×11 inch glossy print to The Lancet in the post. The entries will be judged by Lancet editors and there will be a £300 prize for winning entries. The deadline for entries is Nov 12, 2013. So share your photos with The Lancet and The Lancet Global Health: we look forward to seeing them.