Prof. Koulla-Shiro receives WHO award

She was rewarded for her research in microbiology, transmissible diseases and HIV/AIDS at the 67th World Assembly on Public Health.

Cameroonian-born Prof. Sinata Koulla-Shiro received the WHO Award for Public Health during the 67th World Assembly on Public Health on Thursday May 22, 2014 in Geneva, Switzerland. She won the “Dr. Lee Jong-Wook Prize for Public Health” jointly with the Czech Society of Cardiology. Prof. Sinata Koulla-Shiro, who is also the Secretary General of the Ministry of Public Health since 2012, was rewarded for her works in microbiology, transmissible diseases as well as access to HIV/AIDS antiretroviral drugs.

The WHO recognised that concerning HIV/AIDS, Prof. Sinata Koulla-Shiro’s research on antiretroviral drugs has helped increase access to antiretroviral drugs thus enabling millions of Africans to have treatment thereby reducing the number of deaths linked to the infection in Africa. The prize that consists of a commemorative plaque offered by the founder as well as the sum of 50,000 US dollars (about FCFA 25 million), which she will share with the second laureate of the distinction.

She received the Award at the Palais des Nations in Geneva, Switzerland in the presence of Cameroon’s Minister of Public Health, André Mama Fouda, and Cameroon’s Resident Representative to the United Nations in Geneva, Anatole Fabien Nkou. Radio Publique Nationale in Geneva reports that Prof. Sinata Koulla-Shiro thanked the government of Cameroon, particularly the Head of State, for assistance given her in the course of the research.

Besides serving as Secretary General of the Ministry of Public Health, Prof. Sinata Koulla-Shiro is also a lecturer of microbiology and infectious diseases in the Faculty of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences of the University of Yaounde 1. Holder of Diploma on Specialisation in Internal Medicine obtained in 1985 in the University of Geneva, she was the Permanent Secretary of the Central Technical Group of the National AIDS Control Committee (CNLS) from 1999 to 2002.

She is a member of several international scientific circles. The “Dr. Lee Jong-Wook Prize for Public Health is designated for one or several people, institutions or governments or NGOs or other organisations that have brought about an exceptional contribution to public health.