2025 Student Essay Prize Winner announced
We are excited to announce the winner of our 2025 Student Essay Prize, now in its seventh year.
The student essay competition is for students studying global health as a degree, or any degree with a component of global health or medicine. It is open to current, full-time, students, based anywhere in the world.
The essay topic for this year focused on: How would you design equitable partnerships or collaborations to maximise health outcomes in your community?
The winning essay
This years’ winning essay was written by Morlai Sesay, based at the Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China.
Morlai, a passionate public health professional and emerging scholar from Sierra Leone, wrote his essay ‘Designing Equitable Partnerships for Transformative Health Outcomes in Port Loko District, Sierra Leone: A Grassroots Public Health Perspective, to address new approaches to partnership between local people and international health actors.'
"I am deeply honoured to receive the RSTMH 2025 Student Essay Prize. This recognition affirms the power of community-driven public health and inspires me to keep advocating for equitable partnerships that uplift local voices," Morlai Sesay.
Morlai’s work has been focused on establishing stronger health systems, community resilience, and enhancing health equity among poorer communities. In the future, Morlai wishes to contribute to world health policy and research in line with decolonising health alliances and amplifying the voice of those communities most disadvantaged through health injustices.
Morlai’s essay will be published in an upcoming issue of the RSTMH journal International Health.
Our Student Essay Prize in an annual award and will open again for applications next year.