I am honoured to present the Director-General's Award for Global Health to Professor Awa Marie Coll Seck and Professor Sir Brian Greenwood.
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.
While serving as Senegal’s Minister of Health, Professor Awa Marie Coll Seck led landmark reforms, expanded universal access to care, and integrated disease control programmes.
In addition to making significant contributions to scientific literature, Professor Coll Seck was the Executive Director of the Roll Back Malaria Partnership, leading efforts to accelerate malaria interventions in low-income countries.
Professor Coll Seck has played numerous other critical roles in the global health architecture, including in technical advisory roles with WHO.
It is therefore my great honour to present Professor Coll Seck with the Director-General-s award for global health.
Professor Coll Seck, please come forward.
[PROFESSOR COLL SECK COMES FORWARD]
Excellencies,
Over the last five decades, Professor Greenwood performed pioneering research and made major contributions to infectious disease control.
His work on malaria has been instrumental in shaping modern approaches to control this devastating disease.
His contributions range from the introduction of insecticide-treated bed nets to groundbreaking trials for the RTS,S malaria vaccine, the first vaccine to be recommended for widespread use.
It is therefore my great honour to present Professor Greenwood with the Director-General’s award for global health.
Professor Greenwood, please come forward.
[PROFESSOR GREENWOOD COMES FORWARD]