‘I dedicate my entire life in saving others’: COVID-19 frontliner receives Ramon Magsaysay Award 2021
MANILA, Philippines — "A country is like a pyramid or a tower, it is made up of millions of stone, and the foundation is the common man . . ." - President Ramon Magsaysay
The Ramon Magsaysay Awards Foundation (RMAF) recently bestowed honors to four extraordinary individuals, and a young media entity, as recipients of the 63rd Ramon Magsaysay Awards (RMA).
"The RMA started in 1957 by recognizing men, women, and organizations mirroring Pres. Ramon Magsaysay's legacy. The greatness in spirit is timeless and this is a virtue shared by all the laureates," intimated RMAF chairman of the board Aurelio Montinola III.
"This reminds me of what our 1962 laureate Mother Teresa once said, 'If you cannot feed a hundred people, just feed one.' This year, three men - one from Pakistan, an American based in the Philippines, and another from southern Philippines, together with one woman from Bangladesh, and a young organization from Indonesia showed exemplary transformative leadership.
"In 2008, Sri Lankan laureate Ananda Galapati said that if conditions are right, goodwill will be present.' Thus, the goodwill in all the individual stories shared by this year's laureates are quite extraordinary," he added.
Among this year’s award recipients is Firdausi Qadri of ICCDDR-Bangladesh.
A biochemist, Dr. Qadri has, for 40 years, continued with her lifelong devotion to the scientific profession; showing the vital role of science in preserving life through medical research.
After her post-graduate studies in Liverpool, England, she joined the ICCDDR-Bangladesh in studying and treating cholera and typhoid cases, through oral cholera vaccines that she helped create.
In 2017 through 2020, she led the mass vaccination in the largest concentration camp in Myanmar. She also spearheaded COVID research in Bangladesh, as well as in the development of vaccine for e-coli. Dr. Qadri has also been mentoring young scientists to help fellow Bangladeshi and not go abroad.
"I wanted to be bigger in the coming years and self-supportive in the future. At five years old, I wanted to be in public health after Florence Nightingale; treating diseases of poverty-stricken people. Last August 31, my husband died, seven hours after the announcement of this award. He may not be here but his vision for me has come true. I feel more responsible and I dedicate my entire life in saving others," she revealed.
