Professor Zulfiqar A. Bhutta, Founding Director, Centre for Excellence in Women and Child Health, Aga Khan University and Co-Director, SickKids Centre for Global Child Health, has been honoured with the Geneva Forum for Health Award for 2016.
The award was presented to Professor Bhutta in honor of the critical role he has played in global efforts to improve the health of mothers and children through evidence-based interventions that have been the basis of many national health policies.
The award
was received on his behalf by Firaas Bhutta, Professor Bhutta’s son, at a ceremony during the Geneva Forum for Health held every year in Switzerland.
Now in its ninth year, the Geneva Forum for Health is aimed at advancing global dialogue on best practices in health systems by providing country and global leaders with an opportunity to share their experiences and learn from each other’s successes.
Hosted annually by the Health Practice of McKinsey and Company during the World Health Assembly, the award recognizes advances and contributions in health systems that have improved or have the potential to fundamentally improve the health of people around the world. The awards are decided by the Forum Jury. This year the jury was chaired by Dr Nika Gilauri, former Prime Minister of Georgia; Mrs. Ann Starrs, CEO of the Guttmacher Institute; Professor Cristian Baeza, Director of Health Systems Solutions and Professor of Global Health at IHME; Dr Viktor Hediger, Leader of EEMA Healthcare Systems and Services, McKinsey & Company; and Dr David Fine, Leader of EEMA Public Sector, McKinsey & Company.
“While I am greatly honoured and humbled by the award, I accept it with the recognition that a large number of students and colleagues have contributed to the development of the global evidence-base and recommendations for improving the lives and livelihoods of millions of marginalized people across the world,” said Professor Bhutta. “Although we have made gains, our work is only partially done and much concerted work will be needed in the years to come to help realize the Sustainable Development Goals”.
At the launch of the new Global Strategy for Women’s, Children’s and Adolescents’ Health in September last year, Professor Bhutta represented AKU, which pledged its commitment to invest over US$ 85 million to improve capacity and to develop programmes that will reach over 15 million women and children in South-Central Asia and East Africa and potentially save a million lives.
In December 2015, he was presented with the prestigious Turkish award, the 2015 International TÜBA Academy Prize, in health and life sciences.
In Pakistan, he has been a driving force in improving maternal and child health through his work with the Lady Health Workers programme and in advocating for key changes to national and provincial health and nutrition policies.
Other recipients of the award include Médecins Sans Frontières, The Presidential Delivery Team of Sierra Leone and Ms Ting Shih, CEO of ClickMedix.