30
exclusive
(First from right) World
Health Organisation director
general Dr Tedros Adhanom
Ghebreyesus presenting
(second from right) Dr Nazni
Wasi Ahmad with the Dr LEE
Jong-wook Memorial Prize for
Public Health.
by NURUL AIN HUDA
ABDULLAH
ainhuda@revonmedia.com
The HEALTH | JULY, 2018
Saving limbs
with Maggot
Debridement
Therapy
Dr Nazni receives recognition at World Health
Assembly in Geneva for outstanding contribution
to public health
Lucilia Cuprina.
“Overseas,
they are using
Lucilia Sericata.
However in
Malaysia, we
do not have this
species. We only
have Lucilia
Cuprina; the
sister of Lucilia
Sericata — which
is bronze in
colour and feeds
on micriotic
tissues (dead
tissues).
I
WASN’T expecting to win.
Deep in me, I never thought
that I would be receiving
the award, as it is highly
coveted by many. Malaysia
had previously sent in applications but
was not chosen,” says Institute for Medi-
cal Research (IMR), Infectious Disease
Research Centre Medical Entomology
Unit senior research officer, Dr Nazni
Wasi Ahmad with a humble smile when
approached by The Health recently.
The World Health Organisation
(WHO), Geneva, Switzerland presented
the Dr LEE Jong-wook Memorial Prize
for Public Health, to the lead researcher
Dr Nazni Wasi Ahmad and her team
comprising of Dr Lee Han Lim, Teh
Chien Huey and Suhana Othman of the
Medical Entomology Unit, Institute for
Medical Research, Kuala Lumpur and Dr
Harikrishna K Ragavan of Wound Care
Unit, Kuala Lumpur Hospital.
The prize is awarded to individuals,
institutions and governmental or non-
governmental organisations who have
made an outstanding contribution to
public health.
The recognition was awarded for
her contribution in innovative research
in forensic entomology, using maggot
debridement therapy to facilitate the
healing of wounds and foot ulcers
caused by diabetes.
“
How it began
When Nazni first joined Institute
Medical Research (IMR) in 1993, she was
asked to work at the Medical Entomol-
ogy Unit.
“Actually, I love to work with mos-
quitoes and virus too. But, at that time,
the vacancy to work on mosquitoes and
virus was already occupied by other
officers, so the senior officers asked
me to work on two pairs which was not
taken up by anyone - the cockroaches
and the flies.”
“I have a fear of cockroaches so I
took up flies, although I’m naturally a
very clean person. The initial purpose
was to control the population as it is a
cosmopolitan nuisance in Malaysia.”
“However, as I dug deeper, I realised
that there is a lot of potential. So, I