Prof Boakye: Ghanaian Doctor Becomes First African to Win Falcon Awards; Gets $200K for Disease Elimination

• A Ghanaian doctor, Professor Daniel Adjei Boakye, has been named to win Falcon Awards for Disease Elimination
• He will receive up to USD200,000 for a project to determine how river blindness spreads between villages in Ghana's Oti Region
• The senior technical advisor at END Fund in Ghana is the first African winner of the Falcon Awards

A Ghanaian doctor, Professor Daniel Adjei Boakye, has been selected to win a Falcon Award for Disease Elimination, with a cash reward of up to USD200,000, OMGVoice reports.

He is one of five winners named for the awards. He will receive the cash amount and technical support from the Global Institute for Disease Elimination (GLIDE) to drive the elimination of river blindness in Ghana.

The other four winners are from Pakistan, the Philippines, and Yemen. All five winners were announced by GLIDE at a Universal Health Coverage Day event at EXPO 2020 Dubai.

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His project

The Ghanaian doctor has devised a project to determine how river blindness is transmitted between villages in Oti Region in Ghana.

He will undertake a series of targeted field studies in the region to refine the multi-village model for preventing river blindness and identify the best treatment strategies for the disease.

Results from his findings will also assist in redefining transmission zones for other neglected tropical diseases programmes to ensure these zones are targeted with specific interventions to accelerate the elimination of diseases.

Winning the award

Professor Boakye triumphed over 220 applicants across 44 countries to become the first African winner of the Falcon Awards. He is a senior technical advisor at the END Fund, based at the Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research.

The Falcon Awards was launched in April 2021 by GLIDE to discover and implement innovative approaches to disease elimination.

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Ghanaian Teacher Named in Top 10 for $1m Global Teacher Prize

Meanwhile, YEN.com.gh earlier reported that, a Ghanaian teacher Evans Odei, has been named a top 10 finalist for the Varkey Foundation Global Teacher Prize 2021 partnered by UNESCO.

The US$1 million awards, which is in its seventh year, is the largest prize of its kind.

Odei, a Mathematics teacher from the Achimota Senior High School in the Greater Accra Region, Ghana, was selected from over 8,000 nominations and applications from 121 countries around the world, a publication by the Varkey Foundation said.

Source: YEN.com.gh