Honoured for evidence-based, community-driven solutions transforming global child health policies
Islamabad: In a landmark recognition of Pakistan’s contribution to global public health, world-renowned paediatrician and epidemiologist Dr Zulfiqar A. Bhutta has been awarded the Virchow Prize 2025 for his lifelong and pioneering work in advancing maternal, newborn and child health, particularly in underserved and fragile communities across South-Central Asia, East Africa and beyond.
The Virchow Prize, named after the 19th-century German physician and social medicine pioneer Rudolf Virchow, honours exceptional lifetime achievements that embody the integration of health with social equity, justice, and systemic transformation.
Dr Bhutta shares this year’s prize with South African HIV scientist Prof. Quarraisha Abdool Karim, with both laureates recognised for their community-centred, evidence-based approaches that have redefined the global health agenda.
Announced by the Virchow Foundation and Prize Committee on Monday, the award lauds Dr Bhutta for his decades-long leadership in shaping global child and maternal health through empirical research, policy influence, and capacity-building initiatives that focus on the most vulnerable populations.
Currently the Founding Director of the Institute for Global Health and Development at Aga Khan University (AKU) and Co-Director of the Centre for Global Child Health at SickKids Hospital, Toronto, Dr Bhutta has led transformative interventions that demonstrate how community health workers and local nutrition programs can dramatically reduce maternal and child mortality.
“Professor Zulfiqar A. Bhutta is a globally recognised paediatrician, epidemiologist, and public health scientist whose pioneering research has advanced maternal, newborn and child health, improving millions of lives around the world,” the Virchow Committee said in its official statement.
With a prolific academic record of over 1,400 scientific publications, Dr Bhutta has led several landmark cluster-randomized trials and global studies, helping develop WHO guidelines and shaping health policies across South Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa, and humanitarian crisis zones.
He is also the architect of the “Exemplars in Global Health” methodology, identifying real-world solutions in countries that have made extraordinary progress in reducing childhood stunting and maternal anaemia.
A member of global bodies including WHO, UNICEF, the International Paediatric Association, and the Partnership for Maternal, Newborn & Child Health (PMNCH), Dr Bhutta has chaired and contributed to several Lancet series on maternal and child undernutrition, conflict settings, and newborn survival.
His contributions have previously earned him some of the most prestigious awards in global health, including the John Dirks Canada Gairdner Global Health Award (2022), the Roux Prize (2021), the International Paediatric Association Lifetime Achievement Award (2025), and Pakistan’s Pride of Performance (2017) and Sitara-e-Imtiaz (2023).
In December 2024, he was also appointed as an Officer of the Order of Canada for his global impact on maternal and child health policy.
Dr Bhutta’s research emphasizes locally embedded, scalable solutions that empower communities—particularly in the first 1,000 days of a child’s life. His model of integrating science with grassroots engagement has influenced global frameworks for primary healthcare delivery, particularly in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs).
In his message shared with colleagues, Dr Bhutta humbly acknowledged the recognition, reaffirming the urgent need for science to serve humanity’s most vulnerable. “Advancing health for all demands not just biomedical innovation, but sociopolitical courage that engages with lived realities,” he stated, echoing Virchow’s belief that medicine is a social science.
Alongside Professor Abdool Karim, who was recognised for her groundbreaking HIV prevention work among African women, the Committee noted that both laureates “epitomise Virchow’s tradition of integrating scientific rigour with social consciousness.”
Their work, it said, not only challenged entrenched inequalities but also laid the foundations for just, inclusive, and community-owned health systems—a vision that is ever more urgent in a world grappling with pandemics, displacement, food insecurity, and climate-linked health threats.
Dr Zulfiqar Bhutta’s award is not only a moment of pride for Pakistan but also a testament to the country’s intellectual leadership in global health. His efforts have not only saved lives but have fundamentally reoriented global approaches to child survival, equity, and empowerment.
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