Firdausi Qadri, a senior scientist at the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh has won the prestigious Ramon Magsaysay Award.

According to Prothom Alo, Qadri has been working on research related to infectious diseases and vaccine development over the past 25 years.

Qadri has won this award at a time when the world is battling the Covid 19 virus as several countries continue to be deprived of access to the life-saving vaccines.

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“The RMAF board of trustees recognises her passion and life-long devotion to the scientific profession; her vision of building the human and physical infrastructure that will benefit the coming generation of Bangladeshi scientists, women scientists in particular, and her untiring contributions to vaccine development, advanced biotechnological therapeutics and critical research that has been saving millions of precious lives,” Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation said.

Qadri dedicated the award to Bangladesh and the research institute with which she has been associated, the news organisation said.

“Firdausi said she would dedicate her whole life for the betterment of people of the world through public health invention,” Prothom Alo added.

Several other Bangladeshis including Tahrunessa Abdullah, Fazle Hasan Abed, Muhammad Yunus, Zafrullah Chowdhury, Richard William Timm, Yeasin Mohammad, Angela Gomes, Abu Sayeed Abdullah, Matiur Rahman, AHM Noman Khan and Syeda Rizwana Hasan have also won this prestigious award, named after former Philippine president Ramon Magsaysay.