The 36th WHO Sasakawa Health Prize Award Ceremony

Video Message

I offer my hearty congratulations to the 36th Sasakawa Health Prize recipient the Geo-RIS team of the Ministry of Health of Peru and pay my respects and gratitude for your outstanding work.

The Alma Ata Declaration stressed the importance of close interconnection of health and development and identified primary health care as the key to achieving health for all. With the adoption of the UN 2030 Agenda to ensure to “leave no one behind,” primary health care has played an ever more significant role in the embodiment of stable health and medical services and welfare. It is an honor for me to be able to once again present the Sasakawa Health Prize which my late father, Ryoichi Sasakawa, established at WHO to recognize notable advances made in the promotion of primary health care throughout the world.

I was interested to learn that Geo-RIS utilizes a comprehensive medical network that is firmly established within the local community. This is to identify local health conditions and to ensure access to medical services in a timely and appropriate manner thereby, contributing to the building of resilient society against health threatening risks. It is indeed an embodiment of the essence of primary health care. I look forward to further development of your activities, as pioneers in primary health care, to lead the way to the betterment of global health for mankind.

Thank you.

*This video message is available at The Nippon Foundation YouTube.