Al-Sumait Prize Winners For 2015 Health Award And 2016 Food Security Award To Be Announced In Kuwait On October 17, 2016

Kuwait City, October 13, 2016 – The winning recipients of the prestigious Al-Sumait Prizes for the two categories of Health and Food Security are due to be announced at a Board of Trustees meeting here on Monday October 17, 2016.

Each worth one million dollars, Al-Sumait awards are administered by the Kuwait Foundation for the Advancement of Sciences (KFAS) and a Board of Trustees who oversee the selection of the prize recipients. The awards acknowledge the work of the late Dr. Abdulrahman Al-Sumait, a Kuwaiti doctor who dedicated his life to addressing the health challenges confronting Africa.

The Board comprises of leading philanthropists such as Bill Gates, co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and senior Kuwaiti government officials such as H.E. Sheikh Sabah Khaled Al-Hamad Al-Sabah, Kuwait’s First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs,

Dr. Al-Sumait established a humanitarian organization in Africa known today as Direct Aid. His efforts saw the building of over 120 hospitals and dispensaries, more than 800 schools, and around 200 training centers for women as well as the drilling of thousands of wells and construction of numerous agricultural and irrigation projects.

The winning laureates will receive their awards during a ceremony at The Grand Reception of the Fourth Arab African Summit in Equatorial Guinea on November 22, 2016.

Dr. Adnan Shihab-Eldin, Director General of the Kuwait Foundation for the Advancement of Sciences (KFAS), which administers the awards, said the laureates chosen for final selection all “meet the ambition to promote real and significant progress in the fields of Health and Food Security throughout Africa”.

For more information, please visit www.alsumaitprize.org or contact the Kuwait Foundation for the Advancement of Sciences (KFAS) at:

P. (+965) 22270465 E. info@alsumaitprize.org