Winners of Nelson Mandela Award for Health and Human Rights Declared
Jerry Coovadia, head of Natal University's department of pediatrics, and former South African Constitutional Court Judge
Edwin Cameron have been awarded the "prestigious" Nelson Mandela Award for Health and Human Rights, the South African Sunday Times reports. The award was given to the two men for their "outstanding commitment and contribution to the law, science and human understanding of the HIV epidemic." For the past six years, Coovadia has "been at the forefront" of research in South Africa on the causes and prevention of pediatric AIDS. Cameron, who made public his HIV-positive status in 1998, was recently appointed to the Appeal Court. The award, which is sponsored by the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, allows recipients to bestow a grant of $10,000 to an organization of their choice. The recipients can also design a work-study tour in the United States (Sunday Times, 12/3).