The 1981 Ramon Magsaysay Award for Community Leadership

RESPONSE of Aree Valyasevi

Today I am very thrilled and honored to be here to receive the 1987 Ramon Magsaysay Award for Community Leadership.

This prestigious Award is universally known to be given in recognition of persons who contribute in various ways to human societies in accordance with the ideals of Ramon Magsaysay.

Most developing countries in Asia are facing similar health and nutritional problems as a result of poverty, social injustice, improper feeding habits, poor sanitation, lack of safe water and inadequate health care facilities. The leading causes of children's death in developing countries are still malnutrition and infections of various kinds. These unfortunate children get caught in a vicious cycle of malnutrition and frequent infections, absence from schools or work, illiteracy and poverty. When these children become parents it is likely that their offspring will enter the same vicious cycle.

Solutions to these important and urgent problems must be found and something must be done to remedy the situation; knowledge and experiences gained in one country can be shared with others. It is our hope that malnutrition will gradually disappear by the turn of this century. All of want to live in a world where man can live with man in honor and peace. This is, in fact, the spirit and aspiration of the great leader, Ramon Magsaysay.

I would like to take this opportunity to express my sincere gratitude to the members of the Board of Trustees of the Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation for selecting me for the Award and inviting me here. However, my work is not possible without the enthusiastic support of my staff at Mahidol University's Faculty of Medicine, Ramathibodi Hospital, and the Institute of Nutrition. I thank them and I would like to thank also the agencies which have given generous support for my work during the past 25 years.