Half of the award money goes to ‘Shomman Foundation’
Prof. Dr. Mushtaque Chowdhury, thriving organizer, reputed educationist-researcher and the Vice Chairperson of BRAC, has recently been awarded the prestigious ‘Medical Award of Excellence’ at Chicago which is given annually by the US-based Ronald McDonald House Charities (RMHC). He is the first South Asian recipient of this esteemed award.
Every year, RMHC hosts its Annual Awards of Excellence celebration in honor of individuals who have made outstanding contributions to improve the health and well being of children. The annual event presents Awards of Excellence to individuals selected from across the globe and a grant of $100,000 is awarded in honor of the recipients to other nonprofit organizations selected by the awardees.
The award was given at a gala in Chicago, USA, on November 11, 2017. In his acceptance speech at the grand gala, he expressed his intention to donate half of the award money ($100,000) to ‘Shomman Foundation’.
On winning the Ronald McDonald House Charities (RMHC) US Medical Award of Excellence, Mushtaque said, “I couldn’t believe it when I was notified of it even more so when I saw a list of past laureates on their website. It made me think – what else can I expect?” He also said, “I have always promoted good research, particularly that relates to implementation and outcome of development programmes. My passion is to work with young researchers to carry forward the bigger development agenda.”
The BRAC vice-chair is also a Professor of Population and Family Health, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, New York, and a board member of South Asia Centre of London School of Economics. He is also the president of Asian Action Alliance for Human Resources in Health (AAAH) and lead group member of UN’s Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) Movement.
‘Shomman (Dignity)’ was established by Dr. Rubaiul Murshed, a hospital management authority, prolific writer, and human rights activist. He has been upholding the sound working environment at the household for the domestic workers who are still very much neglected, yet comprising a large portion of the workforce of Bangladesh. Shomman has been also fighting for the recognition of domestic helping hands as ‘labourers’. These ‘helping hands’ are mainly comprised of housemaids, drivers, gardeners, and gateman etc. Shomman coined the term ‘helping hand’ to refer these people humanizing the whole concept of domestic work.
This famed award was won by many eminent personalities in the past, including former US President Jimmy Carter, former US First Ladies Barbara Bush and Betty Ford, Queen Noor of Jordan and Tennis star Andrea Jaeger. Currently, the charity is working in more than 64 countries and regions in the world to ensure children’s healthcare and wellbeing.
