Burnet Institute Director and CEO Professor Brendan Crabb has been announced as the winner of the Global Citizen Prize: Country Hero Award for Australia for 2020.
The award honours individuals who have demonstrated outstanding commitment to achieving the UN's Global Goals for Sustainable Development and championing the world's most vulnerable people, and includes US $10,000 to support their projects.
Professor Crabb was acknowledged for his focus during the COVID-19 pandemic on its impact on non-COVID-19 morbidity in countries like Papua New Guinea and Myanmar where maternal and antenatal care and sexual and reproductive health services have suffered.
He was acknowledged also for his role as Chair of the Pacific Friends of Global Health, an alliance serving three of the world's most prominent health organisations: the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria; Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance; and UNITAID.
"Winning Australia's Hero Award is incredibly special to me," Professor Crabb said.
"I should start by saying I don't feel very heroic. I'm far too privileged a person to warrant that classification, but I do feel incredibly honoured because Global Citizen's purpose and the community it represents is so aligned with the things that drive me."
"I receive this award on behalf of all my staff and students, friends and colleagues and all other like-minded organisations in Australia and across the region."
Professor Crabb will be formally acknowledged at a special ceremony in the United States to be streamed via YouTube and available in Australia on Sunday, December 20 from 3.30pm AEDT.
This year's Global Citizen Prize will be recognised across six categories, including: Global Citizen of the Year, Global Citizen Prize for World Leader, Global Citizen Prize for Business Leader, Global Citizen Artist of the Year, Cisco Youth Leadership Award and the Global Citizen Country Hero Awards for Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany, Nigeria, South Africa and Mexico.
World Leader Finalists Include Chancellor of Germany Angela Merkel, Chairwoman & Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund Kristalina Georgieva, President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen and Executive Director of UNAIDS Winnie Byanyima.
With over 10 million monthly advocates, Global Citizen is a global movement of action takers and impact makers dedicated to ending extreme poverty by 2030 and achieving lasting change around sustainability, equality, and humanity.
