World-renowned pharmacologist Tu Youyou received a special recognition for her discovery of artemisinin, which has saved an estimated 17 million lives from malaria over five decades.
The World Health Organization has presented a special lifetime achievement award to Nobel laureate Tu Youyou, marking the 50th anniversary of her discovery of artemisinin—the antimalarial compound that has saved an estimated 17 million lives and remains the backbone of malaria treatment worldwide.
The ceremony, held at WHO headquarters in Geneva, brought together global health leaders, fellow scientists, and representatives from countries where malaria was once a leading cause of death but has now been dramatically reduced.
"No single discovery in the past half-century has saved more lives," said WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. "Professor Tu's work exemplifies how scientific curiosity, combined with determination and humility, can transform the world."
Tu Youyou, now 93, discovered artemisinin in 1972 while leading a secret Chinese government project to find new malaria treatments. Mining ancient Chinese medical texts, she identified sweet wormwood (Artemisia annua) as a promising candidate. After hundreds of failed experiments, she modified the extraction process and isolated a compound that was 100% effective against the malaria parasite in animal models.
For decades, Tu's work remained largely unknown outside China due to government secrecy and her own modest nature. She published her findings without putting her name on the papers, as was customary in China at the time. It was not until the 2000s that the international community fully recognized her contribution, culminating in the 2015 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.
"I am a Chinese pharmacologist. I did my duty," Tu said via video message at the ceremony, as health constraints prevented her from traveling. "The real honor belongs to the traditional Chinese doctors who recorded their observations over thousands of years, and to the patients who trusted us to help them."
The impact of artemisinin has been transformational. Malaria deaths have fallen from over 1 million annually in the 1990s to fewer than 600,000 today—with the WHO now pursuing a goal of eradication by 2040. Artemisinin-based combination therapies (ACTs) are the WHO-recommended first-line treatment for uncomplicated malaria in all endemic countries.
"In Africa, we call artemisinin the gift from China," said Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, WHO Regional Director for Africa. "Entire generations of children are alive today because of Professor Tu's discovery. Parents who lost siblings to malaria are raising children who may never see a case."
The ceremony also highlighted ongoing challenges. Drug-resistant malaria parasites have emerged in Southeast Asia and threaten to spread to Africa. Researchers are racing to develop next-generation treatments, many building on Tu's original work.
A new Tu Youyou Foundation was announced at the ceremony, funded with $100 million from Chinese technology companies and the Gates Foundation. The foundation will support malaria research and training programs in endemic countries, with particular focus on developing local scientific capacity.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, who knew Tu personally, reflected on her legacy: "Tu Youyou represents the best of science—patient, persistent, collaborative, and always focused on the patient. She never sought fame or fortune. She sought only to help people who were suffering. That's why her legacy will endure."
Tu concluded her video message with characteristic humility: "The work is not finished. Malaria still kills. I hope the young scientists will finish what we started and bring malaria to an end. That would be the greatest honor."