Call for Journalists to Enter the Embrace Award for Accurate, Responsible and Sensitive Reporting of Urinary Incontinence

INDIANAPOLIS and INGELHEIM, Germany, March 29 /PRNewswire/ --

The Embrace Award, a global initiative which recognises accurate, responsible and sensitive reporting of urinary incontinence (UI), is open for entries from journalists around the world. UI is described by the World Health Organisation (WHO) as a widespread global disease and one of the last medical taboos,(1) affecting one in every three women at some time in their lives.(2,3) This debilitating medical condition imposes a significant emotional and physical burden on women who suffer from it,(4) making them afraid to undertake everyday activities such as playing with their children, laughing with their friends or simply leaving their home for fear of an accidental leak.

The Embrace Award is open to consumer and medical journalists from print, on-line and broadcast media outlets from around the world. Entries will be accepted on all topics relating to the causes, types, prevalence, management and impact of urinary incontinence.

An independent panel of leading journalists and incontinence experts will be judging the entries:

- Professor Philip van Kerrebroeck (NL), University Hospital, Maastricht - Jeanette Haslam (UK), Physiotherapist, Association for Continence Advice & Association of Chartered Physiotherapists in Women's Health - Dr Ulrike Hennemann (Germany), Chief Editor and CEO, Medical Tribune - Dr Thomas Stuttaford (UK), Medical Correspondent, The Times - Adriana Hammeken (Mexico), Broadcast Journalist, TV program 'What Women Keep in Secret'

Jeanette Haslam, member of the Embrace Award judging panel, comments: "The award is an excellent opportunity for journalists to be recognised for their efforts to help increase understanding and awareness of UI. Coverage in the media will encourage sufferers to seek help from healthcare professionals and break down the taboo that still surrounds UI."

The winning journalists will be rewarded with an opportunity to visit places where some of the female Nobel Prize Laureates have lived: Washington D.C., USA (Toni Morrison); Paris, France (Marie Curie) and Oxford, UK (Aung San Suu Kyi). These three outstanding women excelled in their fields; inspired others through their words, discoveries, determination and compassion, and challenged people with their ideas. Much in the same way, the winning journalists will have helped to challenge perceptions about UI.

For more information please visit www.embrace-award.org or contact the Embrace Award Secretariat at embrace@embrace-award.org. The closing date for entries is 01 June 2006.

1. Voelker R, International group seeks to dispel incontinence "taboo", JAMA 1998, Sep 16;280(11):951-953. 2. Hunskaar S, Lose G, Sykes D, Vosss S. The prevalence of urinar incontinence in women in four European countries. BJU Int. 2004 Feb;93(3):324-30. 3. Minassian VA, Drutz HP, Al-Badr A. Urinary incontinence as a worldwide problem. Int J Gynecol Obstet 2003;82:327-38. 4. Fultz NH, Burgio K, Diokno AC, et al. Burden of stress urinary incontinence for community-dwelling women. Am J Obstet Gynecol 2003;189:1275-82.