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The Prince Mahidol Award
The Prince Mahidol Award Foundation of Thailand is soliciting the nomination of individuals for consideration by an international award committee to receive awards for 1999. The Foundation was established to honour Prince Mahidol of Thailand, who is considered to be the father of modern medicine and public health in the country. There are two awards given annually. Each award consists of US$50,000 in cash. The award ceremony will be held in Bangkok and will be presided over by His Majesty the King of Thailand.
The award will be bestowed on individual(s) who have made significant contributions that have been shown to be of immense benefit for the improvement of the health of a large number of the population of the world. Alternatively, the award could be given to the individual(s) who have applied certain scientific knowledge successfully towards the improvement of the health of a large number of the population.
Readers of the Food and Nutrition Bulletin will be pleased to note that three of the awards went to individuals whose major contributions were in the field of nutrition. In 1993, one of the awards went to Dr. John Stanbury for his early studies of endemic goitre in Argentina, Ecuador, and Peru, and his promotion of the control of iodine-deficiency disorders through the International Council for the Control of Iodine-Deficiency Disorders (ICCIDD).
In 1997, one of the awards was shared by Dr. Guillermo Arroyave, originally from the Institute of Nutrition of Central America and Panama (INCAP) in Guatemala, for his demonstration of the feasibility of vitamin A fortification of sugar on a national scale and his earlier contribution to demonstration of the feasibility of using potassium iodate for the control of endemic goitre. The award was shared with Dr. Albert Sommers of Johns Hopkins University for his demonstration of the reduction of child mortality through vitamin A supplementation.
Although the 1995 award was shared by Fred Sai of Ghana for his contribution to family planning in Africa and globally, his earlier studies of protein-calorie malnutrition were also recognized.
Nominations of additional individuals who have made outstanding contributions to the control of nutritional diseases will be welcome. Nomination forms and the charter of the Foundation can be requested from the Royal Thai Embassy in the countries, and submitted to the Embassy or obtained from the office of the Secretary General:
Prince Mahidol Award Foundation
Siriraj Hospital
Bangkok Noi, Dhonburi
Thailand
