Bangladeshi scientist Dr Firdausi Qadri, who has been instrumental in discovering vaccines that have saved millions of lives, has been awarded Ramon Magsaysay Award, known as Asia’s Nobel Prize.
The Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation announced this on its website around 12 noon Bangladesh time on Tuesday.
Dr Qadri 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 decided early on to specialise in medical research. In 1988 Dr Qadri joined the icddr,b. She focused on communicable diseases, immunology, vaccine development and clinical trials.
Her most challenging engagements came in the fight against cholera and typhoid, major diseases in Bangladesh and Asian and African countries with poor access to safe water, sanitation, education, and medical care.
In this, she had 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.
In 2014, she founded the Institute for Developing Science and Health Initiatives (ideSHi). Dr Qadri leads ideSHi, which conducts biomedical research and runs training courses and a testing centre. It has become a hub of scientific activity by local and visiting scientists in Bangladesh.
The other recipients of this year's Ramon Magsaysay Award are Muhammad Amjad Saqib from Pakistan, Steven Muncy from Southeast Asia, Watchdoc from Indonesia, and Roberto Ballon from the Philippines.
Named after Ramon del Fierro Magsaysay, the seventh president of the Philippines, the Award annually recognises greatness of spirit shown in selfless service to the peoples of Asia.