Hideyo Noguchi Africa Prize Newsletter No.14

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Preparations Begin for the Third Hideyo Noguchi Africa Prize

Award Ceremony to Be Held during the TICAD 7 Meeting
in 2019

Laureates for the first prize in 2008: Dr. Brian Greenwood, Dr. Miriam Were
Laureates for the second prize in 2013: Dr. Peter Piot, Dr. Alex G. Coutinho

The initial steps in the selection process for the Third Hideyo Noguchi Africa Prize have begun. The prize is inspired by the ideals of Dr. Hideyo Noguchi (1876–1928), who died while researching the causes of yellow fever in Africa, and honors people who have made outstanding contributions to fighting infectious or other diseases and improving public health in Africa. The prize consists of two categories: medical research and medical services. The honorarium for each category is 100 million yen. We will soon start to accept nominations of suitable candidates in both categories. The award ceremony for the Third Hideyo Noguchi Africa Prize will be held on the occasion of the Seventh Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD 7) in 2019. Previous editions of the prize were awarded at five-year intervals, to coincide with previous TICAD conferences in 2008 and 2013. In light of the decision to hold TICAD conferences every three years, hosted alternately in Japan and Africa, Japan’s Prime Minister decided on September 1, 2015, that the prize should be awarded once every six years, to coincide with the holding of the TICAD conference in Japan.

Kick-off Meeting Held
for the third Hideyo Noguchi Africa Prize

Nominations will be accepted
from April until July 2018

Selection Process for the Hideyo Noguchi Africa Prize

We will soon begin to accept nominations for candidates for the Hideyo Noguchi Africa Prize. In addition to the nomination forms that will be sent out to more than 2,500 relevant organizations and individuals around the world, the necessary nomination forms may also be downloaded from Japan’s Cabinet Office website. Nominations will be accepted from April to July 2018. For more details, please see the website for the Hideyo Noguchi Africa Prize. The selection of laureates will be carried out based on nominations received. To nominate suitable candidates for the prize, please consult the nomination guidelines for the Third Hideyo Noguchi Africa Prize provided below. We look forward to receiving your nominations.

NOMINATION/SELECTION CRITERIA

Medical Research

• The research has established original and/or milestone concepts for better understanding the pathology or the human and environmental ecology of infectious or other diseases prevalent in Africa, or has improved (1) clinical management, (2) ecological management, or (3) patient therapy relevant to such diseases.
• The research results have in practice contributed, or will contribute in the near future, to improving measures for controlling or treating infectious or other diseases prevalent in Africa.
• Research results that contribute to other regions but are centered on Africa.

Medical Services

• The activity is aimed to fight against infectious or other diseases prevalent in Africa or to improve public health in Africa.
• The activity has broad and direct impact on the improvement of health and welfare of the African people, particularly the poor and contributes to achieving universal health coverage.
• The activities have been carried out on-site for more than 5 years under a defined goal and structured plan. They should have results that can be sustainably developed, allowing other regions of Africa with similar conditions to derive reference or training possibilities from the results.
• The Activities need to have evidence in scientific journals, accounting documents, reports, etc.
• The activities should not be biased to the extent that beneficiaries are neither to be selected nor rejected based on their political, ideological or religious backgrounds.

Laureates for
the First and Second Hideyo Noguchi Africa Prize

	Introduction of Laureates
	Dr. Brian Greenwood (UK) Professor, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine [Medical Research] In the course of more than 30 years of in-field research in Africa, Dr. Greenwood has made major contributions to our understanding of malaria, the infectious disease that takes more lives in Africa than any other, by elucidating many aspects of the disease from the perspectives of immunology, pathogeny, and epidemiology. His comprehensive research has mobilized numerous areas of scholarship, based on his understanding of African ecology and lifestyles, and he has made major contributions to the training and mentoring of African researchers. Since receiving the prize in 2008, Dr. Greenwood has used the honorarium to establish the Africa/London/Nagasaki Scholarship Fund in collaboration with Nagasaki University, and has worked to nurture African researchers. He continues to dedicate himself to research on infectious diseases including malaria and Guinea worm disease.
	Dr. Miriam Were (Kenya) Chairperson of the National AIDS Control Council, Kenya (at time of award) [Medical Services] For 40 years, Dr. Were has dedicated herself to improving the health and welfare of people in Africa. As Chairperson of the National AIDS Control Council of Kenya, she put together a balanced strategy for tackling HIV/AIDS, and successfully reduced HIV infection rates and AIDS fatality rates in Kenya. During her time as Board-Chairperson of The African and Medical Research Foundation (AMREF), Africa’s largest health development NGO, she tripled Kenya’s national health budget, and led the expansion of medical services to rural villages. Since receiving the prize in 2008, she has used the honorarium to train community health workers, to promote care for AIDS orphans, and to provide training to young people. Since 2013 she has been Chancellor of Moi University (Kenya).
	Dr. Peter Piot (Belgium) Director of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine [Medical Research] Basing his activities in Africa throughout his career, Dr. Piot has worked on many of the infectious diseases that affect people in numerous regions of Africa, particularly HIV/AIDS and Ebola, as well as chlamydia, tuberculosis, and gonorrhea. Through his in-field research and his proposals for international policies, he has used his scientific discoveries and knowledge to benefit people around the world, especially in Africa. Since receiving the prize in 2013, he has used his honorarium to provide financial support to students and researchers from Africa. His memoir of his time as Executive Director of UNAIDS, “No Time to Lose: A Life in Pursuit of Deadly Viruses,” was published in 2012 and has been translated into numerous languages (the Japanese edition was released in 2015).
	Dr. Alex G. Coutinho (Uganda) Executive Director, Infectious Disease Institute, Makerere University (at time of award) [Medical Services] As chief executive of The AIDS Support Organization (TASO), which has been active in Africa for many years, Dr. Coutinho constructed a strategic model for AIDS prevention and treatment that could be applied widely throughout Africa. Focusing on the poorest segments of society, he succeeded in bringing AIDS treatment to people who had been beyond the reach of treatment for many years. This model is now used throughout the continent and has had a major influence on global strategies to combat AIDS. Since receiving the award, he has continued to work on measures to combat Ebola and reduce premature births, and on postgraduate training programs. Presently Executive Director of the Rwanda office of Partners in Health, a non-profit organization that aims to bring the benefits of modern medicine to poor people in developing countries.

Publicity Activities
Exhibition at Global Festa Japan 2017

A Visit by Yoshio Kano, Executive Director of
the New York Hideyo Noguchi Memorial Society

Hideyo Noguchi’s grave in Woodlawn Cemetery (photo by HNMS)
The grave is inscribed with the following epitaph: “Through devotion to science, he lived and died for humanity.”

Did you know that Hideyo Noguchi’s grave is located in the Woodlawn Cemetery in New York? The grave is cared for by the New York Hideyo Noguchi Memorial Society. The Executive Director of the society, Yoshio Kano, visited the office of the Hideyo Noguchi Africa Prize Unit on Wednesday, February 7, 2018. When Dr. Noguchi died in Africa, the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research brought his remains by ship to New York, where they were interred in the Woodlawn Cemetery. But with no surviving relatives to look after the grave, the memorial marker deteriorated and for some time was in a bad state of disrepair. Volunteers from the Japanese Medical Society of America spent 4,000 dollars to restore the gravesite. The restoration of the grave provided the impetus for the foundation of the New York Hideyo Noguchi Memorial Society in 2013. Since then, the society has looked after the grave and its memorial marker, and has held a ceremony each year on the day of his death. The New York Hideyo Noguchi Memorial Society will continue to take care of Dr. Noguchi’s grave. In addition to raising funds to continue looking after the grave, the society will also fund scholarships for Japanese students wishing to conduct medical research in the United States, as a way of passing on Dr. Noguchi’s ideals to future generations. Under the watchful care of the society’s members, Dr. Noguchi lies in rest at Woodlawn Cemetery next to his beloved wife Mary.

New York Hideyo Noguchi Memorial Society, Inc. (HNMS)

President: Dr. Shunichi Homma, Executive Director: Mr. Yoshio Kano
Address: 100 Park Avenue, Suite1600, New York, NY10017
The Japanese Medical Society of America

Invitation for Donations
for the Hideyo Noguchi Africa Prize Fund

As part of the prize money to be awarded for this prize, we are inviting donations widely from those who support the idea of this prize. Your goodwill donations will be used to support the activities of people who are playing active roles in improving medical research and medical services in Africa.
About inquiries for donations, please contact Citizen Participation Promotion Division, Domestic Strategy and Partnership Department, Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).
E-MAIL : jicata-kifu1@jica.go.jp

• Donations to Hideyo Noguchi Africa Prize (as of January 2018)
  521,690,972YEN [Individual: 1,992，Corporation or Foundation: 333 (TOTAL2,325)]
  Donation in 2017 158,000YEN [Individual: 9，Corporation or Foundation: 1 (TOTAL10)]

 

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