Her Royal Highness Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn, as the Representative of His Majesty the King, will confer the Prince Mahidol Award 2010 to the Laureates on Wednesday, 26th January 2011 at 17.30 hours at the Chakri Throne Hall. On behalf of His Majesty the King, Her Royal Highness Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn will also host the banquet in honour of the Laureates on the same day at Boromrajasathitmaholarn Throne Hall at 20.00 hours.
As for the awardees, on 1 November 2010, the meeting of the Board of Trustees of the Prince Mahidol Award Foundation, chaired by Her Royal Highness Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn, decided to confer the Prince Mahidol Award 2010, to five Laureates out of 72 candidates from 31 countries. Details as follows:
In the field of medicine:
Professor Nicholas J. White (United Kingdom) is world leader on the treatment of malaria especially on the use of artemisinin-based combination therapies. He and his team carefully conducted a series of clinical studies that clearly demonstrated the effectiveness of artemisinin for treatment of previously drug-resistant malaria, first in Southeast Asia and subsequently elsewhere around the world. Professor White advocates the combination of artemisinin with other drugs in order to increase the effectiveness and to avoid further drug resistance. This approach is now widely accepted by the World Health Organization. Artemisinin-based combination therapy has now become the recommended treatment of malaria worldwide, both in uncomplicated and severe cases. The careful clinical and pharmacological studies conducted by Professor White and colleagues have made a major contribution to the establishment of current treatment protocols and policy. This approach saves millions of live of the population in developing countries especially in Asia and Africa where drug-resistant malaria is endemic.
Professor Kevin Marsh (United Kingdom) pioneers the studies of immune epidemiology of malaria. Based mainly in Africa, his earlier studies showed the importance of strain-specific immunity in malaria. His team examines life cycle of malaria parasites in human body and how the body responds to the infection. This led to the recognition of several classes of variants of specific malaria antigens that play a key role in the pathogenesis of the disease. He and his colleagues further carried out immunological and clinical studies on several aspects of malaria in young African children which led to current understanding of the disease process and the effects of treatment. These works provide the basis for the development of vaccines for malaria to cover various strain variations.
In the field of public health:
Professor Ananda S. Prasad (U.S.A.) described first cases of human zinc deficiency syndrome in 1963 in young adults with delayed sexual development, short stature, anemia, enlargement of liver and spleen, and abnormalities of bone maturation. Zinc supplementation resulted in significantly increase in height, weight, bone development and sexual maturation. This pioneering work highlighted the importance of zinc in the health of human and brought the attention of scientific and public health communities to further studying this important trace element. This discovery forms the basis that leads to zinc supplementation to improve the health condition of population around the world. Twenty percents of the world population are at risk of zinc deficiency. Professor Prasad continues to work on elucidating the biochemical and immunological mechanism of zinc at the cellular level. The study lead to the understanding how zinc deficiency affects human white blood cells and lower host defense system.
Professor Kenneth H. Brown (U.S.A.) devotes most of his career generating information and developing programs to improve nutritional and health status, especially in controlling and preventing zinc deficiency. He and his team conducted a series of community-based clinical trials of the effect of zinc supplementation on the child growth and development as well as risk of infection. The studies showed that additional zinc supplementation help decreasing the incidence and severity of diarrhea and pneumonia especially in children living in developing countries. Children born to mothers who receive zinc supplementation during pregnancy have lower incidence of diarrhea. He and colleagues further examined and evaluated various zinc fortification and supplementation strategies. Professor Brown is instrumental in the International Zinc Nutrition Consultative Group that advocates zinc supplementation, which is now widely accepted as an important public health measure to prevent zinc deficiency as a major contributor for childhood morbidity and mortality.
Professor Robert E. Black (U.S.A.)’s long-standing works on the importance of childhood nutrition significantly contribute to the wide application of zinc supplementation. His earlier studies in Bangladesh and India demonstrated that daily zinc supplementation during diarrheal episodes significantly reduced the severity of diarrhea. Similar situation occurs in pneumonia cases. He also described the diarrhea-nutrition cycle in which episodes of diarrhea lead to malnutrition and deficiency of trace elements, and in turn further augment the incidence and severity of diarrhea. The World Health Organization and UNICEF currently recommend that all childhood diarrhea cases should be treated with zinc supplement as well as oral rehydration. The program has been implemented in more than 40 countries around the world.
In the past 18 years, 54 individuals, groups of individuals, and institutions have received the Prince Mahidol Award. Among them, 2 received the Nobel Prizes, namely Dr. Barry Marshall, from Australia and Professor Harald zur Hausen from Germany. Professor Marshall, the 2001 Prince Mahidol Laureate in the Public Health, received the Nobel Prize in Medicine or Physiology in 2005 for his discovery of a new type of bacteria called “Helicobacter pylori”. His findings transformed therapy of peptic ulcers from consumption of antacid H1 receptor or radical gastric surgery, to a short highly effective course of antibiotics. Professor Dr. Harald zur Hausen, the 2005 Prince Mahidol Laureate in Public Health, was recently awarded the 2008 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his discovery of human papilloma viruses causing cervical cancer.
For further information, please contact the Press Division, Department of Information, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Tel.02-6435170, Fax.02-6435169, E-mail: div0704@mfa.go.th