Prof Sai nominated for prestigious award

The Chairman of the National Aids Commission, Prof F.T. Sai, has been nominated for The Guardian Achievements in International Development Award. Vote for him here.

The Guardian Achievements in International Development Award is designed to recognise some of the unsung heroes of international development.

These are people who have made a profound contribution to the alleviation of poverty, working above and beyond the call of duty to make a difference to the lives of some of the world's poorest people.

Prof Sai is among the five personalities up for public voting after judges whittled down 95 outstanding entries to their top last five.

The professor is Ghana's special adviser on reproductive health and HIV/AIDS, and a lifelong advocate for the rights and needs of women.

As chair of the Main Committee of the International Conference on Population and Development (IPCD) in 1994, Sai was the figure behind the influential Cairo Consensus, which placed women at the centre of economic development policy.

Since then he has vigorously defended this principle and helped win even more political and financial backing for programmes promoting gender equality, sex education, reproductive healthcare and family planning.

Across his distinguished career, Sai has co-founded the Ghana Planned Parenthood Association and worked as director of medical services for Ghana.

But it is his chairing of international conferences which has gained him global acclaim.

In 1979, Sai led the conference which established the need for the International Code on Marketing of Breast Milk Substitutes.

A trained physician, Sai is also a prolific author and essayist. His recent book Adam and Eve and the Serpent is an account of the inequalities faced by African women.

Click here to throw your support behind Prof Sai