Krasae Chanawongse

1973 Ramon Magsaysay Awardee for Community Leadership from Thailand. In spite of professional and material attractions that draw so many doctors to city practice, Dr. Krasae chose to serve the rural municipality of Muang Phon, his birthplace. While in medical school, he thought of the 140,000 people in Muang Phon with endemic illnesses, treatable diseases and infections and no doctor, and he was determined to serve them. He renovated an old building to become his clinic, treated villagers and encouraged them to discuss their problems with him in and outside the clinic. He called on every citizen to contribute one baht (then equivalent to US five cents) to construct a new health center. Many responded – municipal councilors, village headmen, teachers, policemen, merchants and even poor people he had treated. Volunteers enlist for training and service. Before long, the community completed its own first class health center with a small hospital and modest, modern facilities. The Muang Phon family planning program became a model for the whole of Thailand. His crusade for sanitation, preventive medicine and curative treatment within the means of his health center, resulted in a rare rapport between him and his remote community. He has educated the people to a new and vital awareness of what they can do for themselves with meager means.

Today, his growing concerns cover the health rights of the elderly, social welfare, non-formal education, youth, partnership of government and civil society, environmental issues, and peace.