Following the New Releases from the World Health Assembly on-going in WHO Headquarters, Geneva, this week, I was drawn to the release below. I was attracted to it because of the joy and inspiration that one gets when reading about the recipients of such Awards and the great work(s) they have done to merit recognition and credit. Congratulations to both recipients of the ‘WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has given his Award for Global Health this year to Professor Awa Marie Coll Seck and Professor Sir Brian Greenwood’.
For obvious reasons, I am particularly drawn to Prof Sir Greenwood’s comments after receiving his Award. He said ‘--------. Reflecting on his career, which beganin Nigeria as a young doctor about 60 years ago, Professor Greenwood said, “The pediatric wards were full of measles, meningitis, malaria, polio, there were still even occasions with smallpox coming to hospital. The under-5 child mortality was about 400 per thousand in parts of west Africa. So, how that’s changed in one person’s lifetime. Many of those diseases are not gone but are much reduced and there has been a dramatic improvement in under-5 child mortality. In The Gambia where I also worked, that’s now 40, a 10-fold drop.”
It is interesting that after 60 years, paediatric wards in most of Nigeria, apart from smallpox eradicated worldwide (incidentally the feat was officially announced at the World Health Assembly meeting on May 8, 1980), are still filled by the same cases of these preventable diseases. Surely, his comment calls for reflection on the various efforts made to strengthen the health system especially now that noncommunicable conditions and neglected tropical disease and emerging diseases like the haemorrhagic fevers have joined the mix, complicating the planning and actions needed.
Read the News Release below-
‘NEWS RELEASE Tuesday, 20 May 2025
Director-General’s Award for Global Health given to Professor Awa Marie Coll Seck and Professor Sir Brian Greenwood
20 May 2025-- Geneva -- In recognition of their lifetime achievements in global ealth, specifically in malaria elimination and beyond, WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has given his Award for Global Health this year to Professor Awa Marie Coll Seck and Professor Sir Brian Greenwood.
The Director-General’s Award for Global Health, established in 2019, was conferred during the High-Level segment on Tuesday, 20 May, at the Seventy-eighth World Health Assembly and this year included an honorary lifetime achievement award to each recipient.
“Their invaluable contributions have helped to alleviate the burden of malaria and other vaccine-preventable diseases and to build sustainable health system capacity in Africa,” said Dr Tedros.
Source for the full News release:
https://mail.yahoo.com/d/folders/1/messages/AFmQGeklT_D0aCygqAeJsAmaXqo?...
Joseph Ana
Prof Joseph Ana
Lead Senior Fellow/ medicalconsultant.
Center for Clinical Governance Research &
Patient Safety (ACCGR&PS) @ HRI GLOBAL
P: +234 (0) 8063600642
E: info@hri-global.org
8 Amaku Street, State Housing, Calabar,Nigeria.
www.hri-global.org
HIFA profile: Joseph Ana is the Lead Senior Fellow/Medical Consultant at the Centre for Clinical Governance Research and Patient Safety in Calabar, Nigeria, established by HRI Global (former HRIWA). He is a member of the World Health Organisation’s Technical Advisory Group on Integrated Care in primary, emergency, operative, and critical care (TAG-IC2). As the Cross River State Commissioner for Health, he led the introduction of the Homegrown Quality Tool, the 12-Pillar Clinical Governance Programme, in Nigeria (2004-2008). For sustainability, he established the Department of Clinical Governance, Servicom & e-health in the Cross River State Ministry of Health, Nigeria. His main interest is in whole health sector and system strengthening in Lower, Low and Middle Income Countries (LLMICs). He has written six books on the 12-Pillar Clinical Governance programme, suitable for LLMICs, including the TOOLS for Implementation. He served as Chairman of the Nigerian Medical Association’s Standing Committee on Clinical Governance (2012-2022), and he won the Nigeria Medical Association’s Award of Excellence on three consecutive occasions for the innovation. He served as Chairman, Quality & Performance, of the Technical Working Group for the implementation of the Nigeria Health Act 2014. He is member, National Tertiary Health Institutions Standards Committee of the Federal Ministry of Health. He is the pioneer Secretary General/Trustee-Director of the NMF (Nigerian Medical Forum) which took the BMJ to West Africa in 1995. Joseph is a member of the HIFA Steering Group and the HIFA working group on Community Health Workers. (http://www.hifa.org/support/members/joseph-0 http://www.hifa.org/people/steering-group). jneana AT yahoo.co.uk