The Inaugural REACH Awards: Honoring Heroes of Health

At the Nov. 15th "Reaching The Last Mile" forum in Abu Dhabi, the inaugural REACH (Recognizing Excellence Around Champions of Health) Awards honored the courage of five heroes fighting some of the world's worst diseases,

The Awards were presented by Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, during a global forum aimed to strengthen efforts to eradicate neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) such as trachoma, sleeping sickness, river blindness and lymphatic filariasis, aka elephantiasis. Along with His Excellency Sheikh bin Zayed, the forum was co-sponsored by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and The Carter Center.

Along with former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, whose efforts to defeat the Guinea worm may soon see the parasite completely eradicated, those honored were:

Dr. Adamu Keana Sallau of The Carter Center's Nigeria office, credited with preventing Guinea worm disease from spreading outside Nigeria's borders, and who helped establish mobile containment centers in endemic hotspots;

Dr. Nabil Aziz Awad Alla, the former National Programme Coordinator for Sudan’s Health Ministry who organized of a conference that led to ceasefire in the Sudan civil war and allowed health workers to enter previously unreachable areas infected with Guinea worm;

Regina Lotubai, who uses song to educate villagers in South Sudan about disease transmission and prevention, and;

Daniel Madit Madut, a field officer in South Sudan who continued his work even after international aid organizations evacuated their staff during the country's most recent spate of violence.

Read the full article about the REACH Awards in this link from the The National-UAE news portal--> https://www.thenational.ae/uae/new-awards-honour-the-courage-of-those-fighting-some-of-the-world-s-worst-diseases-1.676080

#ReachingTheLastMile #NTDs #beatNTDs #globalhealth #globaldevelopment

#ReachingTheLastMile #beatNTDs #UCNTD #NTDs