UNA Chapters and Divisions are responsible for running the essay contest on the local level. If you are having trouble obtaining resources or information, local UNA Chapters and Divisions may be able to help. Many of them offer prizes to local winners and organize promotional events. Chapters and Divisions may also offer, as part of their regular program, a speaker or speakers on the essay topic. Attendance at such events may be beneficial to the students taking part in the contest.
Infectious diseases remain among the world's leading causes of death.
The CIA estimates that these diseases account for about one quarter of the deaths worldwide in 1998. In developing nations, these numbers increase dramatically, up to 45 percent in low-income African and Asian countries and 63 percent among children under age five globally. Since 1973, over thirty new infectious diseases have been discovered and twenty well-known diseases have reemerged or spread geographically. Recently, a new strain of tuberculosis, one resistant to multi-drug vaccines and treatments, has surfaced. In addition, diarrheal infections cause some 2.2 million deaths worldwide with 60 percent of this sickness occurring among children under five years of age.