ISLAMABAD, Nov 12 (APP): Pakistan High Commissioner to Canada Zaheer A. Janjua has hailed the conferment of Canada’s annual Gairdner International Award on eminent Pakistani healthcare professional Dr. Zulfiqar Bhutta for his development and evaluation of evidence-based interventions in child and maternal health for marginalised populations.
Dr. Bhutta was presented the award in Toronto by Canada’s Gairdner Foundation. High Commissioner Zaheer Janjua also attended the ceremony and presented the prestigious 2022 John Dirks Canada Gairdner Global Health Award to Dr. Bhutta on behalf of the Gairdner Foundation, a press release on Saturday said.
John Dirks, Gairdner President Emeritus, Heather Munroe-Blum, Chair of Gairdner’s Board of Directors, and Sommer Wedlock, Gairdner EVP were also present on the occasion.
In a statement, Zaheer Janjua congratulated Dr Zulfiqar Bhutta for winning the award, calling it an “exceptional achievement” and a testament to “dedication, devotion and hard work” put by him and his team for many years in the field of health.
Dr. Bhutta has won global recognition for developing a unique collaboration between centres in Pakistan, United Kingdom and Canada and mobilizing cluster randomized effectiveness trials (cRCTs) to gather data used to shape and improve intervention packages for community based maternal and newborn care, nutrition, and early childhood development.
Dr. Zulfiqar Bhutta is currently Professor Department of Pediatrics at Nutritional Sciences, and Public Health, University of Toronto.
He also holds the Robert Harding Chair in Global Child Health besides being Co-Director at SickKids Centre for Global Child Health and Senior Scientist at The Hospital for Sick Children.
Dr. Bhutta has been the Founding Director of Center of Excellence in Women and Child Health and Institute for Global Health and Development, the Aga Khan University South-Central Asia, East Africa, the United Kingdom.
