The National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences (NIMHANS) in Bengaluru has been conferred with the World Health Organization’s (WHO) 2024 Nelson Mandela Award for Health Promotion. Dr. Pratima Murthy, the director of NIMHANS, received the award.

The award was conferred on NIMHANS at a special ceremony at the Seventy-seventh World Health Assembly in Geneva on Friday, 31 May 2024, The Seventy-seventh World Health Assembly President, Dr Edwin Dikoloti of Botswana and the WHO’s Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus were present on the occasion.

The World Health Assembly is the highest decision-making body of the WHO, and its annual meeting is held at the WHO headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland.

WHO Award and Award Winners

The WHO selects eight winners from its four regions: Africa, the Eastern Mediterranean, Southeast Asia, and the Western Pacific. Each winner is a person or institution that has made a unique contribution to public health in their country or globally.

The 2024 awards and their winners are as follows:

Nelson Mandela Award for Health Promotion

The Nelson Mandela Award for Health Promotion was established by WHO in 2019.

The 2024 award was won jointly by the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (NIMHANS), India and Professor Bontle Mbongwe of Botswana.

Ihsan Doğramacı Family Health Foundation Prize 2024

Dr Jamila Taiseer Yasser Al Abri of Oman

Dr Lee Jong-Wook Memorial Prize for Public Health 2024

Dr Bader Al-Rawahi of Oman

Sasakawa Health Prize 204

Dr Doreen Ramogola-Masire, Botswana.

United Arab Emirates Health Foundation Prize 2024

The National Death Registry System of Saudi Arabia.

His Highness Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah Prize for Research in Health Care for the Elderly and in Health Promotion 2024

The prize was awarded to Dr Ahmed Hamed Saif Al Wahaibi of Oman and the Chinese Geriatrics Society, China.

About NIMHANS

The National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences (NIMHANS) was established on 27 December, 1974 by merging the Mental Hospital established by the Government of Mysore and the Government of India’s All India Institute of Mental Health.

The institute is under the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

In 2012, NIMHANS was declared an Institute of National Importance.

Main Campus: Bengaluru, Karnataka.

Director: Dr. Pratima Murthy

World Health Organisation

It is a specialised agency of the United Nations which works to achieve better health for all in the world.

Founded: 7 April 1948.

Members: 194 countries and 2 associate members.

Director General of WHO: Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (since May 2017).

Headquarters: Geneva, Switzerland.

The foundation day of the WHO, April 7, is observed as the World Health Day.