Global Health NOW launches the first pieces of the series “Mycetoma: The Untold Global Health Story of 2015.”

Global Health NOW: Mycetoma: The Untold Global Health Story of 2015
“…Our hope is that this series not only makes mycetoma a well-told global health story in 2016 but also motivates the WHO to add the disease to its list of neglected diseases — a critical step to prompt funding agencies to support much-needed research…” (Simpson, 12/7).

Global Health NOW: Q&A with Amy Maxmen: An Unjust Problem
“Freelance journalist Amy Maxmen has written about everything from the DNA editing tool Crispr, to nurses in Sierra Leone who fought Ebola without pay, to the world’s oldest graveyard in Ethiopia and the neuroanatomy of sea spiders. (That last one was part of her research for her PhD in Organismic and Evolutionary Biology at Harvard.) Still, in the disease mycetoma, she found something new … and horrible. In this Q&A, Maxmen … shares her challenges, surprises, and hopes for the series on mycetoma…” (Simpson, 12/7).

Global Health NOW: A Flesh-eating Fungus Wrecks Lives and No One Cares
“…Doctors in at least 23 countries have reported [mycetoma]. Sometimes it is caused by fungi, and other times by bacteria, but invariably, the problem gets very little attention because it afflicts the poor. ‘This is a disease that causes high morbidity and deformity. It has a terrible impact on the lives of people, and on the economy of people,’ says Anshu Banerjee, who was based in Sudan with the WHO from 2010 to 2014. ‘If you think about issues of equity, mycetoma really does need to be addressed,’ Banerjee adds. ‘It makes poverty stay around’…” (Maxmen, 12/7).