By\u00a0Paul Ejime<\/em><\/p>\n PROF. Uche Veronica Amazigo, Nigeria\u2019s renowned scientist\u00a0and recipient of several international awards, is among honorees from across the world celebrated last week by the Thai Royal Family, administrators of the prestigious Prince Mahidol Award (PMA), which she won in 2012.<\/p>\n Since 1992, the Prince Mahidol Award Foundation has bestowed the Award on individuals whose contributions to Medicine and Public Health have had a profound and lasting impact on global health. In 2025,\u00a0it reached a historic milestone, \u201cwith 100 distinguished laureates, whose collective efforts have shaped medical advancements and public health policies worldwide.\u201d<\/p>\n The laureates include three Africans \u2013 the late Prof. Frederick Sai of Ghana (1995), Prof. Amazigo\u00a0(2012), and the late\u00a0internationally renowned public health expert Prof. Adetokunbo Lucas, the first Nigerian to have won the award in 1999.<\/p>\n Seven of the PMA Laureates have also won the Nobel Prize.<\/p>\n The 45 American Awardees\u00a0include Walter C. Willett, a nutrition researcher (2025), and\u00a0Alfred Sommer, an\u00a0ophthalmologist and professor of epidemiology (1997).\u00a0<\/p>\n PMA honorees from other countries include Japan\u2019s world leader in bio-organic chemistry, Prof. Satoshi \u014cmura\u00a0(1997), who also won the Nobel Prize in Physiology in 2025, and former\u00a0WHO Director-General Dr Margaret Chan of Hong Kong (1998).<\/p>\n To commemorate the 100-milestone, the Foundation, under the Royal Patronage of Her Royal Highness Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn\u00a0as the President, hosted the PMA Laureates\u00a0in Thailand\u2019s northern Nan Province from 2-5 February 2026.<\/p>\n King Bhumibol Adulyadej\u00a0founded the Prince Mahidol Award Foundation in 1992, on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of his father, Prince Mahidol Adulyadej\u2019s\u00a0birth.<\/p>\n The Foundation said the 2026 \u201cspecial gathering aims to foster connections among past laureates, reflect on the legacy of the Award, and explore future opportunities to advance global health.\u201d<\/p>\n The \u201c100 Prince Mahidol Laureates Celebration Award Nexus (PMAN)\u201d\u00a0featured the launch of a publication and a display of all the laureates in paintings\u00a0with write-ups on their discoveries and contributions to medicine and public health.<\/p>\n The laureates visited Nan Province\u2019s Artistic, Cultural and Academic Heritage Centres, and met the Wolith monks at the Phumin Temple. They also toured the 888-metre Nan Cultural Art Route and explored the Pharma-Agroforestry District.<\/p>\n According to the PMA Foundation, Prof. Amazigo \u201cpioneered community-directed treatment, transforming control of neglected tropical diseases in Africa by empowering communities. As Director of WHO\u2019s\u00a0African Programme on\u00a0Onchocerciasis\u00a0(River blindness), she expanded treatment to millions across 19 countries\u2026 She continues to advance community health through school feeding, education initiatives, and the establishment of affordable healthcare services for marginalized populations.\u201d<\/p>\n Under Amazigo\u2019s leadership, the WHO\/APOC Programme, one of the most successful health interventions in Africa, received the One-million-Euro Ant\u00f3nio Champalimaud Vision Award\u00a0in\u00a02011,\u00a0the biggest global award for outstanding contributions to the prevention of visual impairment and blindness.<\/p>\n She has\u00a0also provided expertise to the Campaign by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to eliminate malaria\u00a0in the region, through an integrated vector control strategy, as happened with the successful River Blindness control programme. Her \u201cHLF Role Model Award for Outstanding Contributions to the Field of Public Health\u201d acknowledged her as\u00a0\u201cone of the few Africans to have led a specialised UN Agency, overseeing a highly successful multilateral, multidisciplinary partnership in global public health.\u201d<\/p>\n Uche Amazigo is married to Emeritus Professor of Mathematics, John Amazigo. Both are Fellows of the Nigerian Academy of Science and are blessed with children.<\/p>\n A Knight of the National Order of Burkina Faso (2011), she has, since retiring as WHO\/APOC Director, established an\u00a0NGO, the Pan-African Community Initiative on Education and Health (PACIEH),\u00a0which trains and empowers mothers to provide a comprehensive feeding and health programme for their children in rural schools.<\/p>\n A committed scientist, philanthropist and humanist with a large heart for the poor, Amazigo, is the brain behind the Goodwill Medical Centre (GMC),\u00a0constructed and equipped by the TY Danjuma Foundation, in Enugu, eastern Nigeria,\u00a0which provides quality primary and secondary healthcare services to low-income families, transforming lives in its host and neighbouring communities.<\/p>\n Commissioned in November 2023 by its chief benefactor, General TY Danjuma,\u00a0the hospital, in April 2025, constructed and unveiled\u00a0for public use\u00a0a multi-million-Naira iron bridge across a river linking\u00a0at least three urban slums to essential services in Enugu State.<\/p>\n By removing the transportation barrier in the area, the Avah River Bridge\u00a0has opened up\u00a0healthcare and other essential services to forgotten Enugu East LGA communities.<\/p>\n The GMC\u2019s maternal, newborn and child health, eye care and family medicine units provide essential services to surrounding communities and beyond, with a commitment to achieving zero maternal and child mortality despite the challenges.<\/p>\n In February 2025, the hospital\u00a0signed an MoU with the Enugu East Local Government Authority to\u00a0significantly increase the number of health insurance beneficiaries.<\/p>\n The hospital collaborates\u00a0with local groups\u00a0and residents to address their needs, with\u00a0resilience, vision and unwavering commitment to saving lives and inspiring community buy-in\u00a0and collective ownership of the Centre\u2019s programmes.<\/p>\n In these days of global economic difficulties, when scarce financial resources are shared among competing needs, the health sector is usually the most severely affected.<\/p>\n By contributing to revolutionising healthcare delivery and other essential services to rural communities\u00a0through public-private partnership, the GMC is setting the pace through a model that complements\u00a0government efforts in transforming the lives of poor communities\u00a0for accelerated development and progress.<\/p>\n Ejime is a Global Affairs Analyst and Consultant on Peace & Security and Governance Communication.<\/em><\/p>\n A.I<\/p>\n Feb. 9, 2026<\/p>\n Tags: Amazigo<\/a> Global Laureates<\/a> Paul Ejime<\/a> PROF. Uche Veronica Amazigo<\/a><\/p>\n
\n Opinion<\/a> <\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/realnewsmagazine.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/IMG-20260209-WA0028.jpg\")
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In 2018, Amazigo was\u00a0among nine personalities\u00a0and an institution,\u00a0honoured by the Hallmarks of Labour Foundation (HLF),\u00a0which \u201ccelebrates Nigerians, Africans and people of the Black race,\u00a0who have achieved success through hard work, honesty, integrity and justice in every field of human endeavour.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/realnewsmagazine.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/IMG-20260209-WA0031.jpg\")