Bangladesh, Pakistan scientists win UNESCO Prize
Professor Samir Saha of Bangladesh and professor Shahida Hasnain of Pakistan have been named as the two laureates of the 2017 Carlos J Finlay UNESCO Prize for Microbiology.
The Prize will be presented to them on 6 November during the 39th session of the General Conference of UNESCO, which will bring together the Organisation’s 195 Member State between 30 October and 14 November, said a UNESCO statement issued on 17 October.
Samir Saha is the head of the Microbiology Department of the Dhaka Shishu Hospital for children in Bangladesh. He is also the executive director of The Child Health Research Foundation at the Bangladesh Institute of Child Health.
The statement read: “As leading researcher in paediatrics, he [Samir Saha] played a key role in introducing to Bangladesh vaccines against two bacteria that cause meningitis, which had a direct positive impact on the health of children in the country. He has also led research into the resistance to treatment of some pneumococcal diseases."
Shahida Hasnain, founder and chairperson of the Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics at the University of Punjab in Lahore, Pakistan, has won numerous distinctions for her work.
“Professor Hasnain significantly contributed to advances in research in environmental, agricultural and medical microbiology. She has notably worked on the heavy metal detoxification mechanisms, salt stress tolerance mechanisms, and bacterial morphogenesis,” the statement added.
The Carlos J Finlay UNESCO Prize rewards the efforts of an individual, or of an institution, non-governmental organisation or other entity which, through research and development, has made an outstanding contribution to the field of microbiology and its applications.
The prize has an endowment of $10,000, which will be divided between the two laureates.
Created in 1977 by UNESCO at the initiative of the Government of Cuba, the prize rewards scientists whose research has made an outstanding contribution to microbiology and its applications.