2011 Recipient

Dr. Kaosar Afsana, Associate Director of Health Programme working at BRAC, Bangladesh, where she has worked for over 18 years. She is an MD with a MPH from Harvard University and PhD from Edith Cowan University in Australia. Currently, she heads two projects for BRAC on maternal, newborn and child health in urban slums and rural districts of Bangladesh that affects millions of women. Under her leadership, the use of mobile technologies in the hands of rural women has contributed to a dramatic decline in maternal mortality—an achievement that is outstanding in one of the poorest countries in the world. Dr. Afsana is the Health and Advisor to the WHO Maternal Health Task Force. She also teaches reproductive health at James P Grant School of Public Health, BRAC University, in Bangladesh.