Hideyo Noguchi Africa Prize - Rewarding outstanding innovation for health in Africa

The inaugural Hideyo Noguchi Africa Prize, a new international medical research and services price, was awarded to Brian Greenwood for medical research and Miriam Were for medical services at the Presentation Ceremony during Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD IV), on May 28, 2008 in Yokohama, Japan. Brian Greenwood, Manson Professor of Clinical Tropical Medicine from London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, for his bold and innovative work on malaria, and Miriam Were, Chairperson of Kenya’s National AIDS Control Council, for her efforts to bring basic medical services and health rights, each received from Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda the Citation, Prize Medal, and the honorarium of 100 million Japanese Yen (approximately 1 million US dollars). The laureates were honoured for their outstanding achievements by their Majesties the Emperor and the Empress of Japan and more than forty Heads of State and Government of African countries attending TICAD. Hideyo Noguchi was a prominent Japanese bacteriologist who joined New York’s Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research (now Rockefeller University) and contributed to the institution’s world renowned reputation in the field of bacteriology, but died of yellow fever in Ghana where he had been conducting research on the disease in 1928.

The Prize contributes an integral part of the Japanese Government’s global health policy particularly in tackling African health issues, including battling infectious diseases and strengthening healthcare systems. These issues were among the priority agendas within the TICAD and the G8 Hokkaido Toyako Summit.

 

 

http://www.cao.go.jp/noguchisho/index-e.html

http://www.cao.go.jp/noguchisho/makgoba-comment-e.pdf

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Last updated 08 August 2008