Integrated Development in Focus (DIF) has won the TB Survival Prize 2009 for its innovative and empowering campaigns in uplifting communities affected by tuberculosis (TB) and multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB).
DIF was awarded the Tuberculosis Survival Prize on the 3rd December at an event in Cancun, Mexico City. The award is given each year by the Tuberculosis Survival Project, with support from the Lilly MDR-TB Partnership.
Based in Accra, Ghana, DIF is dedicated to the reduction of poverty and the empowerment of people. The organization works across Ghana, focusing on TB and MDR-TB, TB and HIV co-infection, and malaria. DIF has arranged many awareness and education campaigns at community events, which are made sustainable via almost 300 DIF-trained volunteers. It also complements the work of the National Health Service by reaching the country’s most remote villages, and has to date referred more than 600 people for TB testing, over 200 of which have proved to be infected with TB and are now under treatment.
Nominations for the awards were judged by a jury and chaired by Nobel Laureate Betty Williams.
Ms. Williams said DIF was awarded the prize because of the innovative and sustainable mechanisms it used to create awareness about TB, identify potential TB infections, and ensure correct and complete treatment for TB patients.
“It is an honour to be involved with this award and to review the applications from all corners of the globe. This process gives one an understanding and appreciation of the challenging work being undertaken by organizations in remote corners of the world to combat TB and MDR-TB,” said Ms. Williams.
Paul Thorn, Project Director of the TB Survival Project of the TB Survival Project, explained that the prize was created for exactly this reason.
“Many advocates and activists, and the role that they play in the fight against TB and other diseases, often goes unrecognized. The Tuberculosis Survival Prize rewards the innovative work of these unsung heroes and heroines and to make a contribution towards those efforts,” explained Mr. Thorn.
Josephine Abgo, President of DIF, said in a statement that was read out at the awards ceremony at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Cancun, Mexico; "Today marks another milestone in the annals of the work of Integrated Development in Focus and it is our joy to receive the TB Survival Prize for 2009. Working in TB is really a challenging field that requires effective collaborative effortts from all key and community stake holders, not that alone, but also committed community involvement and participation.
"For DIF, the awared means that it can continue and expand its existingwork in Ghana. It gives us a sense of recognition, fulfilment and motivation to do more in the fight against TB, for development is about people."
