KUWAIT: Kuwait's Minister of Health Sheikh Dr Basel Al-Sabah said Friday His Highness Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah Prize for Research in Health Care for the Elderly and in Health Promotion aims to encourage scientific research and innovation. "The prize, named after His Highness the late Amir of Kuwait, materializes the noble commitment to ensuring a better and healthy life for the elderly people; it is a token of our appreciation of their contributions and dedication along their lifetime," he said.

The minister made the comments in an address to the ceremony held via videoconference by the World Health Organization (WHO) to deliver the 2020 prize to Prof Gunhild Waldemar of Denmark. Appreciating the achievements made by the Danish laureate, Dr Sheikh Basel said, "Prof Waldemar was able to make outstanding contribution to research into the health problems of the elderly."

"She devised a new technique for early diagnosing and treating Alzheimer," he said, wishing Prof Waldemar more success. Sheikh Dr Basel paid homage to the sponsor of the prize, His Highness the late Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, saying this initiative signals the strength of the relationship between the State of Kuwait and the WHO, which dates from the country's joining of organization in May 1960.

He also thanked the WHO leadership under Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus for their efforts to select the successful candidates for the prize. During World Health Assembly, held in May 2019, the WHO Executive Board named Prof Waldemar as winner of the $20,000-worth prize, based on recommendations of the selection panels and in collaboration with the foundation of the prize. - KUNA