2023-05-21 17:06:00
Pour “his lifelong commitment to health”, the Belgian doctor and microbiologist Peter Piot was honored on Sunday by the World Health Organization (WHO). During the opening session of the 76th World Health Assembly, which was held in Geneva, he was awarded, along with Congolese professor Muyembe-Tamfum, the Global Health Leaders Prize.
“In this time of multiple emergencies, health crises and conflicts, we recognize that leadership in public health and science is more important than ever to advance global health.”, argued the head of the WHO, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. Before adding:Our winners embody this passion”. And in fact, long, if not endless and in any case impressive, is the list of actions, distinctions, works, scientific publications, companies, discoveries, awards… that can be credited to this tireless researcher, born in 1949 in Keerbergen.
Like, Ebola, Covid-19
Thus, between his doctorate in medicine obtained in 1974 at the University of Ghent and his doctorate in microbiology in 1980 at the University of Antwerp, the scientist co-discovered, in 1976, the Ebola virus in Zaire.
And if the prize awarded today by the WHO honors all the contributions of the laureates in the field of public health, the UN organization did not fail to underline the “extraordinary leadership in the fight once morest the HIV/AIDS epidemic” demonstrated by Professor Piot, as well as “the essential role he played in the creation of the UNAIDS agency”, which coordinates programs to fight AIDS. The eminent scientist has actually been Executive Director since its creation in 1995 (and until 2008), and, as such, Deputy Secretary General of the United Nations, responsible for coordinating the fight once morest the disease at the global level.
An undisputed pioneer in AIDS research, Professor Peter Piot also played a leading role in managing the recent Covid-19 health crisis. As Special Advisor to the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, he had been appointed to “support and lead research and innovation in the global fight once morest the pandemic“.
Made baron in 1995, and the same year Doctor Honorary at the VUB then at UCLouvain in 2021, among other numerous honours, the man met last year as part of the Great Catholic Conferences remained surprisingly simple and very humble, testifying to his intelligence beyond standard.
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