Bangladeshi scientist Dr Firdausi Qadri has won the ‘Ramon Magsaysay Award’ which is Asia’s highest honour and is widely recognized as the region’s equivalent of the Nobel Prize.
During the announcement of the award, it was said on behalf of the committee of Ramon Magsaysay that this award has been given to her for her dedicated role in the development of vaccines for the benefit of millions of people.
The winners of the Ramon Magsaysay Award were announced on Tuesday from the Philippines at 12pm (Bangladesh time). This information was reported on the official website of Ramon Magsaysay.
Dr Qadri is a senior scientist at the Mucosal Immunology and Vaccinology Unit at the Infectious Diseases Division of International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease and Research, Bangladesh (icddr,b).
She has worked to save millions of lives by conducting research on cholera vaccines and making them available at affordable prices. She was a member of the World Health Organization's scientific advisory council on vaccines.
Dr Qadri founded the Institute for Developing Science and Health Initiatives (ideSHi) in 2014, which conducts biomedical research, runs training courses and a testing center.
She focused on infectious diseases, immunology, vaccine innovation and clinical trials from the beginning of her career.
From 2017 to 2020, she led the mass OCV vaccination program at the Rohingya refugee camp in Cox's Bazar under the supervision of WHO and UNICEF.
In a video message thanking the committee after receiving the award, Firdausi Qadri said, “I feel happy and honored. I dedicate this award to Bangladesh, my homeland. I would like to dedicate this award to my organization, icddr,b as well.”
The other recipients of the award for this year are- Muhammad Amjad Saqib from Pakistan, Roberto Ballon from Philippines, Steven Muncy from South-East Asia and Watchdoc, Indonesia, for Emergent Leadership.
Established in 1958, the Ramon Magsaysay Award is Asia’s premier prize and highest honour. It celebrates the memory and leadership example of the seventh Philippine president after whom the award is named, and is given every year to individuals or organizations in Asia who manifest the same selfless service and transformative influence that ruled the life of the late and beloved Filipino leader.
