Congratulations to Zackie Achmat 2024 James and Sarah Fries Prize for Improving Health Recipient
Yesterday I was excited to attend the James and Sarah Fries Prize for Improving Health award ceremony at the American Public Health Association’s (APHA) Monday General Session in Minneapolis. This year’s Fries Prize recipient is Zackie Achmat who was honored for his groundbreaking work in increasing access to life-saving therapies for people living with HIV/AIDS in South Africa and other low- and middle-income countries.
Mr. Achmat has spent his life fighting for justice, equality, dignity and freedom, particularly for working-class people and vulnerable minorities in South Africa and throughout the world. In response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic, Mr. Achmat co-founded the Treatment Action Campaign also known as TAC, in 1998. TAC led a robust effort to guarantee that all South Africans in need, regardless of their financial situation, could have anti-retroviral drugs.
Through his leadership South Africa changed its strategy for treating HIV/AIDS. Remarkably, more South Africans are now receiving treatment than ever before, despite the country once having one of the highest rates of HIV infections worldwide.
Justice Edwin Cameron, retired Justice, Constitutional Court of South Africa who championed Mr. Achmat’s nomination stated, “He (Zackie) has dedicated his life to fighting for human rights, social justice, and public health, conspicuously for HIV/AIDS treatment access. There alone, he altered the course of South Africa’s and Africa’s epidemic.” He continued, “Zackie’s breakthrough campaigns in treatment access undoubtedly saved many, many, many lives. The TAC was pivotal in securing access to affordable HIV/AIDS treatment for millions.”
If you would like to nominate someone for the James and Sarah Fries Prize for Improving Health, please visit the Fries Awards for Health nomination page, where nominations will open starting December 2, 2024.
The CDC Foundation is honored to partner with the James F. and Sarah T. Fries Foundation to present the Fries Prize for Improving Health, each fall. Zackie Achmat joins a long and distinguished list of Fries Prize recipients.
