Contacts:
In Washington: Phillip Jeremy Hay (202) 473-1796
phay@worldbank.org Washington, DC, March 26, 2008- The World Bank Group today congratulated two international doctors for winning the inaugural Hideyo Noguchi Africa Prize, awarded by the Japanese Government to honor medical researchers and practitioners with outstanding achievements in the fight against infectious and other diseases in Africa. The Vice President of the World Bank’s Human Development Network, Joy Phumaphi, said that Professor Brian Greenwood of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, and Dr. Miriam Were, who heads Kenya’s National HIV/AIDS Council, were distinguished contributors in the fields of medical research and health services respectively and had been chosen by the Japanese Government after an extensive selection process, in cooperation with the World Health Organization (WHO). “Brian Greenwood and Miriam Were are worthy recipients indeed of the new prize which honors the memory of Doctor Hideyo Noguchi whose efforts to discover a vaccine for yellow fever in Africa, and Central and South America before that, are still widely remembered. This dedication to scientific research ultimately claimed his own life when he died from yellow fever in Ghana some 80 years ago, “ said Phumaphi, a former Assistant Director General at WHO, and a former Minister of Health of Botswana. Professor Brian Greenwood was honored for his contribution to the global fight against malaria; Doctor Miriam Were was similarly honored for her contribution to patient-and community-centered approaches to address HIV/AIDS and other public health issues. Phumaphi said the prize will be awarded during the upcoming Fourth Tokyo International Conference on African Development(TICAD IV) to be held from 28 to 30 May, 2008, in Yokohama, Japan. The Bank will co-host TICAD IV under the theme “Towards a Vibrant Africa: A Continent of Hope and Opportunity”, the results of which will be discussed at the G-8 Hokkaido Toyako Summit hosted by Japan from 7 to 9 July, 2008. For more on the Hideyo Noguchi Africa Prize, visit: http://www.cao.go.jp/noguchisho/gaiyo-e.html
| 
RSS