The World Health Organization (WHO) has honoured six laureates with public health prizes and awards at Seventy-eighth World Health Assembly in Geneva on Friday, 23 May 2025.
World Health Assembly President Teodoro J. Herbosa, together with high-level representatives of the foundations that established these public health awards and prizes, and WHO Director-General, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus awarded the winners come from Africa, Eastern Mediterranean, Europe and Western Pacific regions.
The Executive Board of the World Health Organization decided in February 2025 to distinguish six laureates to celebrate their unique role for public health in their countries, their regions and globally.
Dr Merete Nordentoft from Denmark was awarded with the Sasakawa Health Prize whereas Dr Jožica Maučec Zakotnik from Slovenia won the 2025 United Arab Emirates Health Foundation Prize.
Likewise, Highness Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah Prize for Research in Health Care for the Elderly and in Health Promotion is given away to Chinese Professor Huali Wang and the Geriatric Healthcare Directorate of the Ministry of Health of the State of Kuwait.
Professor Helen Rees from South Africa is the 2025 winner of the Dr LEE Jong-wook Memorial Prize for Public Health and Nelson Mandela Award for Health Promotion awarded to Dr Majed Zemni from Tunisia.
