Islamabad/Dhaka: Bangladesh’s vaccine scientist Dr. Firdausi Qadri and Pakistan’s microfinance economist Mohammad Amjad Saqib are on the list of five people to be honored with this year’s Ramon Magsaysay Award 2021. has been included. The names of the winners of the Ramon Magsaysay Award, considered Asia’s Nobel Prize, were announced on Tuesday.
Among the awardees are Philippine fisheries and community environmentalist Roberto Ballon, US citizen Steven Munsi for humanitarian work and refugee aid, and the Indonesian Watchdog for Investigative Journalism.
Dr. Qadri, 70, has earned his doctorate from the prestigious Liverpool University of Britain. She joined the International Center for Cholera Disease Research in Dhaka in 1988. Dr. Qadri is credited with developing an inexpensive oral anti-cholera vaccine and typhoid vaccine for adults, children and infants. He did a lot of work in the slum areas of developed countries.
Pakistani activist Saqib, 64, has developed ‘Akhuwat’, a first-of-its-kind interest-free microfinance program that uses places of worship to deliver zero-interest loans while recording an unprecedented loan repayment. Saqib is known for his intelligence and compassion, which enabled him to build the largest microfinance institution in Pakistan. He believes that only with humanitarian help and solidarity, the ways of eradicating poverty can be found.
The winners will be formally honored with the Magsaysay Award during a ceremony on November 28 at the Ramon Magsaysay Center in Manila.
