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| Tu Youyou, chief researcher with the China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences [VCG] |
In 2015, Tu Youyou, chief researcher with the China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, for her discovery of artemisinin, a novel therapy against malaria. Tu once said artemisinin was a gift from traditional Chinese medicine to the world, and the prize was a gift from Chinese scientific and technological workers to the motherland.
Since 2000, the World Health Organization (WHO) has recommended the use of artemisinin-based-combination drug therapies as the first-line treatment for malaria. Artemisinin has saved millions of lives worldwide. The world malaria report, released by WHO, indicates, between 2000 and 2015, the global malaria mortality rate among at-risk groups, of all ages, fell by 60 percent, and the mortality rate among children under age 5 dropped 65 percent.
In 2017, Tu received the 2016 State Preeminent Science and Technology Award. In 2019, she received the Medal of the Republic, the nation's highest honor for prominent figures who have made great contributions to the construction and development of the People's Republic of China (PRC).
(Source: Women of China)
