Dr Firdausi Qadri, a Bangladeshi scientist instrumental in the development of vaccines that have saved millions of lives, has been honoured with the Ramon Magsaysay Award.

She will be conferred with the award at a ceremony on November 28 at the Ramon Magsaysay Center in Manila, said a press release of the Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation.

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The board of trustees of the foundation recognises her passion and lifelong devotion to the scientific profession and her vision of building the human and physical infrastructure that will benefit the coming generation of Bangladeshi scientists, and women scientists in particular, the press release said.

The board also considered her untiring contributions to vaccine development, advanced biotechnological therapeutics and critical research that have been saving millions of precious lives.

On the award’s website, where this year’s winners are listed, Dr Qadri is described as an “affordable vaccine champion”.

The award is given every year to individuals who have made extraordinary contributions to the eradication of poverty and the development of the society in Asia.

Dr Qadri, 70, is an emeritus 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 completed her doctorate in biochemistry at Liverpool University in the United Kingdom after obtaining a postgraduate degree in the subject. She joined the icddr,b in 1988.

Her biggest challenges came in the fight against cholera and typhoid — major diseases in Bangladesh and other Asian and African countries with poor access to safe water, sanitation, education, and medical care.

She played a key role in the development of a more affordable oral cholera vaccine (OCV) and the typhoid conjugate vaccine (ViTCV) for adults, children, and even infants as young as nine months.

Under the World Health Organization and United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF), she led a team of experts in the 2017-2020 OCV mass vaccination of Rohingya refugees from Myanmar in Cox’s Bazar in Bangladesh and prevented a mass cholera outbreak.

Last year, she helped facilitate the OCV vaccination of 1.2 million people in six high-risk districts of Dhaka.

The other recipients of this year’s Ramon Magsaysay Award are: Muhammad Amjad Saqib from Pakistan, recognised by the foundation as a “poverty alleviation visionary”; American Steven Muncy for his work as a “humanitarian and peace builder” in Southeast Asia; Watchdoc of Indonesia, a production house termed a “media truth crusader”; and Roberto Ballon of the Philippines, a fisherman and “community environmentalist”.

The annual Ramon Magsaysay Award was established to perpetuate former Philippine president Ramon Magsaysay’s example of integrity in governance, courageous service to the people, and pragmatic idealism within a democratic society.

The prize was established in April 1957 by the trustees of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund based in New York City with the concurrence of the Philippine government.

So far, 12 Bangladeshis received the prestigious award regarded as Asia’s equivalent to the Nobel Prize.

Tahrunessa Ahmed Abdullah was the first among the Bangladeshis who received the award in 1978.

Brac founder Fazle Hasan Abed, Nobel Peace Prize recipient Prof Muhammad Yunus, Gonoshasthaya Kendra founder Dr Zafrullah Chowdhury, one of the founders of Notre Dame College Father Richard William Timm, enterpriser of Deedar Comprehensive Village Development Cooperative Society Mohammad Yeasin, founder of Banchte Shekha Angela Gomes, founder of Bishwa Sahitya Kendra Abdullah Abu Sayeed, Editor of Bangla daily Prothom Alo Matiur Rahman, Executive Director of Centre for Disability in Development AHM Noman Khan and Chief Executive of Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers Association (BELA) Syeda Rizwana Hasan also received the prestigious award.



Firdausi Qadri honoured with Magsaysay Award
Source: Trend Viral Philippines