MRIC & MRIC Essay Award 2021: “The impact of COVID-19 pandemic in our lives"

Three years ago in December 2017, the Medical Research Information Center (MRIC) Global by the Medical Governance Research Institute (MEGRI), Tokyo, Japan, started original online medical newsletters. We published 263 articles contributed by a wide range of people, including healthcare professionals and medical students from all over the world. They have shared unique episodes related to healthcare systems in their countries and other personal experiences and views.

MRIC Global publishes articles every Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday sharing republicated articles regarding issues surrounding healthcare systems and policy and articles covering the health impact of radiation exposure and local healthcare issues in Fukushima Prefecture after the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear power plant disaster originally published in Japanese. It is also distributed to over 2000 readers including prominent researchers and online Media reporters worldwide. In addition, Editorials are distributed by the editorial team for notable articles.

Editorial Team:

Akihiko Ozaki, MD, PhD., Jyoban Hospital of Tokiwa Foundation, Iwaki, Fukushima Japan, and Medical Governance Research Institute, Shinagawa, Tokyo, Japan.

Yasuhiro Kotera, PhD., University of Derby, Derbyshire, Derby, UK.

Karim Moutchou MD., Faculty of Medicine and Pharmacy, Fez, Morocco.

Yuki Senoo MUDr., Medical Governance Research Institute, Shinagawa, Tokyo, Japan.

See the Editors & Publishers for additional information on the journal's Editors and Editorial Board.

In Autumn of 2018, we held our very first Essay contest with a theme “Comparison of healthcare systems between countries and regions.” All contributions to the essay contest have exhibited the potential in the development of healthcare system and presented unaddressed local healthcare issues. Among 13 contestants, Hans Jesper Del Mundo (*University of the Philippines College of Medicine, Manila, Philippine), Karim Moutchou (*Faculty of Medicine and Pharmacy, Fez, Morocco), and Haruka Sakamoto (Faculty of Medicine of the Palacký University, Olomouc, Czech Republic) have won the prizes. *The affiliations of authors at the time of publication.

To record and share major challenges of the healthcare sector facing the COVID-19 pandemic from 2020 to 2021, we have launched the second Essay contest, titled "The impact of COVID-19 pandemic in our lives." We welcome submissions from all over the world not limited to those involved in healthcare. Your submitted work must be original and should not have been published nor under consideration elsewhere.

Theme: The impact of COVID-19 pandemic in our lives

Theme Description:

The COVID-19 pandemic has and is still having a profound impact on our daily lives, work, education, and livelihood. The epidemic is on the rise worldwide. Approximately two hundred million people have been infected, and more than four million people have lost their lives. Globally, people entered 2021 with a fear of COVID-19; family members have been infected, and they have lost their loved ones to the disease. Mass vaccination against COVID-19 is now in full swing in many parts of the world. However, the pace of vaccination is currently declining, even in the United States, which was the early front-runner for COVID-19 vaccine trials and supply. The problem emerging from the disparity of COVID-19 vaccination among developing countries has also cast a shadow, especially in those countries where poverty is widespread. Thus, the current situation is far from the target of achieving herd immunity, and thousands of different virus variants circulating globally, including the delta variant, are starting to take advantage of this gap. As a result, it is still challenging to regain the life we had before the COVID-19 pandemic.

Against the current backdrop of 2019–2021 pandemic, MRIC Global will hold its second essay contest on the theme of “the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in our lives.” We would like to invite you to write an essay about the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in your daily lives, work, education, livelihood, and whether it is positive or negative, any stories that you would like to share with others. Essays will be evaluated based on their generality and novelty (i.e., many people have felt but have not been shed light on). Furthermore, essays that foreshadow the current and future circumstances shaped by the COVID-19 pandemic will be given high marks.

We look forward to your submissions!

Guideline:

1) Essays must be 800–2,000 words in English or 2,000 characters or less in Japanese. Essays must be typed, with your name, title, affiliation, and essay title included at the top of the first page.

There are no particular rules regarding formatting (e.g., font style, size, line space, etc.). However, essays must be submitted in MS Word (DOC/DOCX).

* Your name and essay title are not included in the word count limit.

2) Entries must be submitted to the following email address: info@mricg.info.

* Only one entry per person is accepted.

* We will send emails confirming receipt of essays.

3) Essays must be original and unpublished. Plagiarized entries will be rejected.

4) Essays can be written by up to three people, and coauthored essays will be accepted.

5) Copyrights for the entered essays will be assigned to the organizer.

Deadline: Extended to14.11.2021

Awards:

1st Prize: Certificate, prize of 50,000 Yen (approx. US $450 as of August 2021)

Outstanding Prize: Certificate, prize of 10,000 Yen (approx. US $90 as of August 2021) for three separate submissions

Honorable Mention: Certificate

* All prize winners will be announced at the 16th Annual Symposium of Medical Reforms Promoting Practical Solutions from the Field held November 2021 in Tokyo and on the MRIC Global website. Certificates and prize will be mailed to the winners in December 2021.