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Friday, 23 May 2025
Six public health champions celebrated at the Seventy-eighth World Health Assembly [https://www.who.int/news-room/feature-stories/detail/six-public-health-champions-celebrated-at-the-seventy-eighth-world-health-assembly]Six public health champions celebrated at the Seventy-eighth World Health Assembly
At an award ceremony taking place during a Plenary of the Seventy-eighth World Health Assembly in Geneva on Friday, 23 May 2025, public health prizes and awards were presented to persons and institutions from around the world for their outstanding contributions to public health.
The six 2025 laureates received their awards from the Seventy-eighth World Health Assembly President Teodoro J. Herbosa, together with high-level representatives of the foundations that established these public health awards and prizes, and WHO Director-General, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
In February 2025, the Executive Board of the World Health Organization decided to distinguish six laureates to celebrate their unique role for public health in their countries, their regions and globally.
They come from four WHO Regions: Africa, Eastern Mediterranean, Europe and Western Pacific.
Sasakawa Health PrizeDr Merete Nordentoft from Denmark is the 2025 winner of the Sasakawa Health Prize
The Sasakawa Health Prize is awarded for outstanding innovative work in health development to a person or persons, an institution or institutions, or a nongovernmental organization or organizations. Such work includes the promotion of given health programmes or notable advances in primary health care.
The Executive Board awarded the Sasakawa Health Prize for 2025 to Dr Merete Nordentoft from Denmark for her outstanding innovative work in health development.
Dr Merete Nordentoft has made important contributions to mental health care by providing concrete, primary health-care-based solutions to address gaps in the chain of care. In 1998, she created the OPUS outreach treatment programme that has resulted in significantly improved outcomes for young people with first-episode psychosis, demonstrating substantial achievements in advancing mental health programmes and improving the quality of care. One of OPUS’s key success factors is the direct involvement of communities and family members. The concept has since served as inspiration for many countries throughout the world. Her intervention research on suicide prevention has directly informed Denmark’s national action plan for suicide prevention, which includes regional suicide preventive clinics and collaboration between helplines run by nongovernmental organizations and professional helplines.
The focus on early intervention and increasing the accessibility of mental health services at the community level benefits vulnerable groups.
“With the right support, early enough, recovery is not only possible – it is likely,” said Dr Merete Nordentoft.
United Arab Emirates Health Foundation PrizeDr Jožica Maučec Zakotnik from Slovenia won the 2025 United Arab Emirates Health Foundation Prize
The United Arab Emirates Health Foundation Prize is awarded for an outstanding contribution to health development to a person or persons, an institution or institutions, or a nongovernmental organization or organizations.
The Executive Board awarded the 2025 Prize to Dr Jožica Maučec Zakotnik from Slovenia for her outstanding contribution to health development.
Dr Jožica Maučec Zakotnik has made exceptional contributions to the promotion of healthy lifestyles and to ensuring equal access to preventive services in health care for all. She co-developed an innovative model of multidisciplinary, free-of-charge health promotion centres that include access to mental health services, breaking access barriers for the most vulnerable through collaboration with social services and schools.
She also led the establishment in 2005 of the MURA Health and Development Centre, meant to address social determinants of health in an impoverished region, that became a WHO collaborating centre in 2009 for cross-sectoral approaches to health and development. At the National Public Health Institute, Dr Zakotnik collaborated with firefighting associations to increase awareness of colorectal cancer screening amongst men. As a State Secretary (2001–2004 and 2017–2018), she helped to scale up successful pilot programmes at the national level, including for the first national programme on nutrition, the strategy for promotion of health-enhancing physical activity and the MURA mental health programme.
“Together we can make a lasting difference in the lives of countless individuals – at home and beyond,” said Dr Jožica Maučec Zakotnik.
Highness Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah Prize for Research in Health Care for the Elderly and in Health PromotionProfessor Huali Wang (China) and the Geriatric Healthcare Directorate of the Ministry of Health (State of Kuwait) are the 2025 winners of the Highness Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah Prize for Research in Health Care for the Elderly and in Health Promotion
His Highness Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah Prize for the Promotion of Healthy Ageing is awarded to a person or persons, an institution or institutions, or a nongovernmental organization or organizations who have made an outstanding contribution to research, health promotion, policy and/or programmes on healthy ageing.
The Executive Board awarded the 2025 Prize jointly to Professor Huali Wang (China) and the Geriatric Healthcare Directorate of the Ministry of Health (State of Kuwait) for their outstanding contributions to healthy ageing.
Professor Huali Wang has made significant contributions to healthy ageing at the national and global levels. She helped shape China’s national healthy ageing strategic plan and national dementia action plan, developing a comprehensive approach for mental care. The approach, now active across 27 regions, has resulted in dementia screenings for over 100 000 older adults, as well as health education campaigns and interdisciplinary, community-based service models that integrate professional and family support. Professor Wang also pioneered the development of dementia caregiver support groups, establishing in 2000 China’s first Memory Café, which promotes community involvement and has since become a national model. Professor Wang has championed cognitive stimulation therapy training and implementation in over 20 provinces. Professor Wang has collaborated with WHO on global dementia guidelines and on the iSupport online course, helping to extend caregiver support worldwide. The social prescribing pilot programme that Professor Wang initiated in Shangrao has received global recognition.
“This award is not just a recognition of our past work but a call to action for future endeavours – together, we can make a difference in the lives of many,” said Professor Huali Wang.
The Geriatric Healthcare Directorate at the Ministry of Health, Kuwait, has designed a multifaceted and comprehensive approach to healthy ageing. It developed a National Health Strategy for Older Adults (2024–2030) that provides a clear framework for the provision of accessible, high-quality integrated care and the promotion of active and healthy ageing. The implementation of the Kuwait Older Adults Health Survey has helped to inform policies and improve service delivery. Innovative mobile vaccination campaigns have benefited an additional 1000 older adults and caregivers. Comprehensive training programmes on healthy ageing, benefiting over 1000 caregivers, physicians, pharmacists and nurses are reported to have improved health-care delivery and coverage for older adults by 40%. The Directorate carries out community engagement initiatives to create inclusive and accessible environments that are responsive to the needs of older people and it also collaborates with nongovernmental organizations to foster community support.
“This recognition is not only a reflection of our efforts, but a renewed responsibility to continue striving for excellence in elderly care, preserving dignity and honouring their lifelong contributions,” said Dr Fatemah Bendhafari from the UAE Geriatric Healthcare Services Directorate of Kuwait’s Ministry of Health.
Dr LEE Jong-wook Memorial Prize for Public HealthProfessor Helen Rees from South Africa is the 2025 winner of the Dr LEE Jong-wook Memorial Prize for Public Health
The Dr LEE Jong-wook Memorial Prize for Public Health is awarded to a person or persons, an institution or institutions, a governmental or nongovernmental organization or organizations, who have made an outstanding contribution to public health.
The WHO Executive Board awarded the 2025 Prize to Professor Helen Rees (South Africa) for her outstanding contribution to public health at the local, national, regional and global levels.
Professor Helen Rees founded the Wits Reproductive Health and HIV Institute (Wits RHI) in 1994, which has treated over 650 000 people living with HIV and which operates in 52 sites across South Africa with regional partnerships in 23 countries. In 2004, she created the Hillbrow Health Precinct, an innovative model that integrates urban regeneration, medical research and community-based health services, such as care for adolescents living with HIV and vaccination services, and that provides essential health services to some of Johannesburg’s most marginalized residents. Professor Rees has also made major research contributions covering HIV prevention, vaccines against human papillomavirus and COVID-19 and her research on HIV prevention, including pre-exposure prophylaxis and long-acting injectable treatments, has transformed HIV-prevention strategies for vulnerable populations.
“Public health and human rights are intertwined, driven by the social determinants of health and the access people have to care – let us continue the struggle for health for all,” said Professor Helen Rees.
Nelson Mandela Award for Health PromotionDr Majed Zemni from Tunisia is the winner of the 2025 Nelson Mandela Award for Health Promotion
The Nelson Mandela Award for Health Promotion is awarded to a person or persons, an institution or institutions, a governmental or nongovernmental organization or organizations, who or which has/have made a significant contribution to health promotion.
The Executive Board awarded the 2025 Award to Dr Majed Zemni (Tunisia) for his outstanding contribution to health promotion.
Dr Majed Zemni has made extensive and impactful contributions to health promotion, particularly in his roles as President of the Tunisian Association of Forensic Medicine and Criminal Sciences and as President of the National Office of Family and Population (ONFP) of Tunisia. He helped issue key legal instruments, such as guidelines for forensic medicine and legislation relating to patients’ rights and medical liability. As part of the National Committee of Medical Ethics, he contributed to the development of protocols for managing the deceased that ensured human dignity during the COVID-19 pandemic. He worked at the Psychological Assistance Centre for Women and Children Victims of Violence. He also maintained the ONFP’s International Training and Research Centre as a WHO collaborating centre. His efforts have helped reorient health services with a patient-centred approach, with particular attention to people living with HIV and persons deprived of their liberty, and through multisectoral engagement involving other ministries and stakeholders in the development and implementation of programmes.
“Health is a common denominator for all humanity, regardless of borders, races or policies,” said Dr Majed Zemni. “We must all strive to establish health security and a healthier future for all.”
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The call for nominations of candidates for each prize is sent out each year after closure of the World Health Assembly. Nominations can be made by national health administrations of a WHO Member State and by any former recipient of the prizes. At its 156th session in February 2025, the Executive Board designated the 2025 winners of the prizes, based on proposals made by a selection panels composed of Executive Board Members, and working independently for each prize.
See more on public health prizes and awards [https://apps.who.int/gb/awards/] web page.
Read detailed information about the public health prizes and awards process [https://www.who.int/about/public-health-prizes-and-awards].
Full information can be found in this 78th World Health Assembly document (A78/INF./1) [https://apps.who.int/gb/ebwha/pdf_files/WHA78/A78_INF1-en.pdf].
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