|
|
|
|
Professor Abdel Salam Gerais
I am honored to speak on behalf of my father, Professor Abdel Salam Gerais, who is sitting among you in this glorious moment. Thank you for giving him this prestigious award which is an honor to us all, to his family, his colleagues at work and to his country, Sudan. This will indeed make him defy his physical disability more and achieve more, following in the footsteps of Jonathan Mann.
In addition to his teaching load and in-patient care at two large hospitals in Sudan, Soba and Khartoum, he began voluntary work 30 years ago through two non-governmental organizations: Sudan Fertility Care Association and Sudan Family Planning Association. He worked closely with a dedicated group of medical and non-medical staff, who all believed in providing free health services to anyone in need, with a special emphasis on reproductive health.
In 1982, the drought which hit our country as well as the civil war which erupted and sent thousands to live around Khartoum in miserable conditions. When he and his other colleagues set up the Reproductive Health clinic in Haj Yosif in 1982 it was the first clinic of its kind. With help from Planned Parenthood Federation of America, the clinic became a model and now many NGOs and the government have followed our example. One of the main tools adopted was a commitment to involve the community in advocating for their health needs with an emphasis on the role of religious groups and politicians in achieving their goals. The reproductive health campaign has now gone far to involve women and youth groups and now they are taking the lead. My father would like to express his special thanks to PPFA for their nomination and the Global Health Council president and the award coordinator for their help in making his journey, our journey, possible. He would like to extend a special thanks to his relatives who insisted on coming from all corners of the world to share in this celebration tonight. Thanks to Dr. Francis Deng and to Sudan Embassy officials for their participation and kind words.
Thank you.
|
|
|
