Hideyo Noguchi Africa Prize Newsletter No.22May 2025
＜Hideyo Noguchi Africa Prize Newsletter No.21>
Laureates of the Fifth Hideyo Noguchi Africa Prize have been selected!
On April 25, 2025, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi announced the laureates of the Fifth Hideyo Noguchi Africa Prize. The awarding ceremony is scheduled to be held on the occasion of the Ninth Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD 9) in August 2025.
Medical Research category
Dr. Abdoulaye Djimdé (Republic of Mali)
Director, Parasites & Microbes Research & Training Center (PMRTC), University of Science, Techniques and Technologies of Bamako
［Reasons for Award］
As a preeminent researcher for malaria control in Africa, Dr. Djimdé has long dedicated himself to the eradication of malaria. Dr. Djimdé, who lost a sibling to malaria in his childhood, has made enormous contributions to malaria control over many years through such efforts as the clinical development of antimalarial drugs with the aim of realizing his dream of a “malaria-free Africa.” As Director of the Parasites & Microbes Research & Training Center, University of Science, Techniques and Technologies of Bamako, Dr. Djimdé is also committed to training young researchers from countries in sub-Saharan Africa.
Medical Services category
DNDi (Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative)
(Geneva, Switzerland (Head office))
［Reasons for Award］
DNDi is a non-profit organization that develops and delivers new drugs/treatments for people suffering from neglected diseases. Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders) utilized part of its prize money from the 1999 Nobel Peace Prize to establish DNDi in 2003 in collaboration with research institutions and other partners in various countries. It also has an office in Japan (DNDi JAPAN: a non-profit organization). DNDi has developed and delivered 13 affordable drugs/treatments for six deadly diseases with its partners as well as conducting clinical trials in 28 countries. It has also made significant contributions to the treatment of African sleeping sickness (human African trypanosomiasis: HAT) through developing and delivering oral treatment for this disease as well as establishing the “HAT Platform” for research institutions and other partners to engage with each other.
For more information, please visit the Hideyo Noguchi Africa Prize website below.
Message from Dr. Osamu Kunii, Chairperson, Hideyo Noguchi Africa Prize Committee
The Hideyo Noguchi Africa Prize aims to honor individuals or organizations with outstanding achievements in the fields of medical research and medical services to combat infectious and other diseases in Africa, thus contributing to the health and welfare of the African people and of all humankind. On behalf of all those involved in the selection process, I would like to express my respects and offer my heartfelt congratulations to the outstanding achievements of the laureates.
The laureates of this prize are selected through rigorous and extensive deliberation. Upon review of the nominations received from experts and organizations across the globe by the Hideyo Noguchi Africa Prize Medical Research and Medical Services Selection Sub-Committees, the Hideyo Noguchi Africa Prize Committee, a group of internationally renowned experts, reached a conclusion through intensive deliberation and made referrals to the Prime Minister for final decision in March 2025. I would like to take this opportunity to express my sincerest appreciation to those who made nominations and to everyone involved in the selection process.
Introduction of Laureates
Medical Research Category
Dr. Abdoulaye Djimdé (Republic of Mali)
Summary of Achievements
The tragic experience of losing a sibling to malaria as a child and his initial career as a young pharmacist motivated Dr. Djimdé to pursue research on malaria, an endemic disease threatening the lives of people in Africa. The results of his research over the past thirty years have contributed significantly to improved treatment and control of malaria and have had an important impact on the health policies of African governments and the WHO. In particular, Dr. Djimdé, together with collaborators, had shown that the Plasmodium falciparum gene that conferred chloroquine resistance in laboratory strains was responsible for chloroquine-resistant malaria in malaria patients through his field research in malaria-endemic areas of Mali. He went on to design molecular markers that can confirm chloroquine resistance in the field. He also demonstrated the safety and efficacy of antimalarial drugs through clinical trials of artemisinin-based combination therapies. Furthermore, he established the Pathogens genomic Diversity Network Africa (PDNA), a collaborative research network for malaria control among 12 African countries (currently 16 countries) and built a system for sharing experimental protocols and genetic data. In addition, as director of the Parasites & Microbes Research & Training Center (PMRTC) at the University of Science, Techniques and Technologies of Bamako, he has worked diligently to train young scientists and has collaborated with many international research groups. By doing so– despite diverse challenging conditions– he has developed the center into a central hub of an international network of malaria research. Through these accomplishments, his research has saved the lives of many people living in malaria-endemic areas, and he remains firmly committed to realizing the dream of a “malaria-free Africa.”
Dr. Djimdé conducting research on Malaria in the laboratory of the Parasites & Microbes Research & Training Center (PMRTC).
Dr. Djimdé trains young researchers from African countries at Pathogens genomic Diversity Network Africa (PDNA) laboratories in Bamako.
Dr. Djimdé listens to communities to realize his dream of a malaria-free Africa.
(Photo credit：Abdoulaye Djimdé )
Medical Services Category
DNDi (Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative)
DNDi (Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative) is a non-profit organization dedicated to the research and development of safe, effective, and affordable drugs/ treatments for people suffering from neglected diseases. Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) (Doctors Without Borders) utilized part of its prize money from the 1999 Nobel Peace Prize to establish the DNDi in 2003 in collaboration with the Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI), the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation in Brazil, the Ministry of Health of Malaysia, the Pasteur Institute in France, and the WHO Special Programme on Research and Training in Tropical Diseases.
Summary of Achievements
There are so called twenty-one “neglected tropical diseases” that infect and afflict more than one billion people worldwide, but medicines that can treat them safely, effectively, and affordably have not been developed and manufactured due to market failures. Since its inception, DNDi, along with its international partners, has developed and delivered 13 affordable new treatments for six deadly diseases, including African sleeping sickness, visceral leishmaniasis, pediatric HIV, and malaria, with broad impact in improving global health, particularly in low- and middle-income countries. Among these, fexinidazole, the first oral treatment developed by DNDi with its partners for the treatment of Gambian-type human African trypanosomiasis (gHAT, a form of African sleeping sickness), which is severely devastating in sub-Saharan Africa, has brought about a breakthrough effect in the endemic countries. In addition, through the HAT Platform, a network of research institutions and experts mainly from endemic countries in Africa, DNDi has helped overcome significant challenges such as conducting clinical studies in remote areas in accordance with international scientific quality standards. Based on these achievements, DNDi and its partners are working continuously toward the final target of the elimination of sleeping sickness.
Dr Patou, a doctor from the national control programme for sleeping sickness in the Democratic Republic of Congo, hands over a box of fexinidazole to the boat captain ready for their journey upstream on the river Kwilu until Mushie. Dr Patou and his team are bringing the new treatment to the remote health post there as new patients have been detected.（Photo Credit：Kenny Mbala-DNDi）
Antoinette Mpono Bukoy receiving fexinidazole from Dr Kandé, at Masi Manimba hospital in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). （Photo Credit：Xavier Vahed/DNDi）
Lab technician Leon Katunda analyses cerebrospinal fluid under a microscope, as a part of DNDi’s trials for safer and more effective sleeping sickness treatments in Masi Manimba, Democratic Republic of Congo.（Photo Credit：Xavier Vahed/DNDi）
Dr. Jean-Jacques Muyembe-Tamfum, Laureate of the Third Hideyo Noguchi Africa Prize, Awarded “The Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Neck Ribbon”
On November 3, 2024, Dr. Jean-Jacques Muyembe-Tamfum (General Director of the National Institute of Biomedical Research [INRB]) was awarded “The Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Neck Ribbon” at the 2024 Autumn Conferment of Decorations on Foreign Nationals. The award was conferred for his contributions to the promotion of academic exchange and mutual understanding between Japan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Dr. Muyembe-Tamfum was awarded the Third Hideyo Noguchi Africa Prize in the Medical Research category for his enormous contributions to research with the aim of combating Ebola and other deadly viruses as well as training legions of disease fighters.
After receiving the Hideyo Noguchi Africa Prize, Dr. Muyembe-Tamfum has continued to play an active role in a wide range of fields, such as being appointed as coordinator of the national response to Ebola virus disease and COVID-19 (2020-2022) as well as President of the Congolese Academy of Sciences (2021) and receiving the Lifetime Achievement in Public Health Award at the International Conference on Public Health in Africa in 2021 (CPHIA 21). We offer our heartfelt congratulations to him for this award.
< Profile >
Jean-Jacques Muyembe-Tamfum
Current position: General Director of the National Institute of Biomedical Research (INRB), Professor of Medical Microbiology/Virology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Kinshasa
Awarding Ceremony of Certificates of Appreciation: Awarding Ceremony Held to Present Certificates of Appreciation to Those Who Have Made Generous Donations to the Hideyo Noguchi Africa Prize Fund
In February 2023, the Japanese government established a new system under which the Prime Minister, the Chief Cabinet Secretary, or the Director General of the Cabinet Office, as an expression of gratitude, presents certificates of appreciation to individuals or organizations that have made significant contributions to advancing the Hideyo Noguchi Africa Prize Fund through generous donations to the fund.
In 2024, the following individuals were presented with certificates of appreciation.
(Photo credit: BML Inc.)
(Photo credit: Amakusa Daiichi Hospital)
You can find more information on our website.
■BML Inc.
https://www.cao.go.jp/noguchisho/english/info/kanshajo_zoutei.html
■Amakusa Daiichi Hospital
https://www.cao.go.jp/noguchisho/english/info/kanshajo_zoutei2.html
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 during 2007 – February 2025
655,723,843 YEN [Individual: 2,137, Corporation or Foundation: 572 (TOTAL: 2,709)]