Prof. Lydia Mosi, Associate Professor of Cell and Molecular Biology at the University of Ghana, has been honoured with a lifetime achievement award by the Spanish Anesvad Foundation for her decades of groundbreaking research into Buruli ulcer and other neglected tropical skin diseases.
The recognition came at the foundation’s eleventh annual awards ceremony held in Spain on Thursday, an event that celebrates individuals and organisations dedicated to combating neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) conditions that affect more than one billion people globally, according to the World Health Organisation.
Prof. Mosi, who is based in the Department of Biochemistry, Cell and Molecular Biology at the University of Ghana, was singled out for a career spanning more than 50 high-impact scientific publications on NTDs, significant influence on health policies, and securing over $20 million in research funding. Each award carries a prize of €15,000 earmarked for funding the recipient’s projects.
Accepting the award, Prof. Mosi traced her journey to the curiosity of an undergraduate student encountering her first Buruli ulcer patient.
“I started this journey out of curiosity as an undergraduate student when I saw my first Buruli ulcer patient with a huge lesion that was painless,” she said. “To be recognised for work in neglected tropical skin diseases and my work in Buruli ulcer, is especially meaningful because these conditions have, for far too long, reflected a deeper neglect, not only of diseases, but of the people who live with them.”
She dedicated the award to the memory of her late mother, saying she was “most certain that I will get this far.”
Prof. Mosi used the occasion to draw attention to the broader human consequences of tropical skin diseases, stressing that their impact goes well beyond the clinical.
“Neglected tropical skin diseases are more than medical conditions. They affect education, livelihoods, mental health, and social inclusion. Behind every statistic is a child excluded from school, a parent unable to work, or an individual facing stigma and isolation,” she said.
The professor called on the next generation of scientists to “challenge indifference, strengthen local leadership, and ensure that no disease and no person is considered too neglected to matter.”
Ghana featured prominently at this year’s ceremony. The Ark Development Organisation, a Ghanaian body specialising in neglected tropical diseases, also received an award in the category of environmental, social and economic determinants for preventing NTDs with cutaneous manifestations. The jury commended its approach of integrating mental health and stigma reduction into its operational model. Its director, Emmanuel Kwafo Mintah, accepted the award.
The third award in the category of communication actions to influence policies on cutaneous NTDs went to the Ethiopian organisation National Podoconiosis Action Network.
This year’s edition of the awards was dedicated to the recent establishment of the Spanish Coalition against Neglected Tropical Diseases, which brings together public and private entities spanning research, international cooperation and hospital medicine.
Since the awards were inaugurated in 2015, the Anesvad Foundation has supported 48 projects and professional careers across more than a dozen African countries, disbursing a cumulative €865,000 in funding.
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