Asian Nobel prize awarded to missionary sister. (News in Brief: Pakistan).

Manila, Philippines--Sister Ruth Pfau, a German-born physician and religious of the Daughters of the Heart of Mary, is one of this year's recipients of the Ramon Magsaysay Award for her lifelong commitment to eradicating leprosy and the stigma it imposes in Pakistan. The award is often called the Asian Nobel prize. In Sister Pfau's words, "For us, the control of leprosy has meant from the beginning to work to change the life of our patients, to help them recover their own dignity" She instilled in her staff that they put the person at the centre of their concern, to treat the person, not just the disease.

With the support of the Pakistani government, Sister began to set up leprosycontrol centres across the country in 1968; in 1996 the World Health Organization declared Pakistan to be the first country in Asia to have brought leprosy under control.

Forty years ago, destined for a mission station in India, Sister Pfau stopped along the way in Pakistan. In Karachi she felt a profound need to help those rejected by the city, many of whom were victims of Hansen's disease, as leprosy is formally called. Her congregation had a ramshackle leprosy dispensary in Karachi, which was inadequate given the needs. The missionary then set to work to reorganize the dispensary into a proper clinic. By chance, her efforts drew the attention of the German Leprosy Relief Association, which, along with other German donors, began to provide regular funding.

In two years' time, she transferred the Marie Adelaide Leprosy Centre (MALC, named after the founder of her congregation) to a proper hospital building, and established a full-service leprosy treatment and rehabilitation centre, free to patients. In 1968, with the support of the Pakistani government, Sister Pfau launched the National Leprosy Control Program. Soon she and her team began setting up leprosy-control centres across the country. The project included the training of volunteer male nurses. MALC is now housed in an eight-story building in Karachi. It administers 170 centres throughout Pakistan and employs 800 people. The now-retired 72-year-old missionary remains in her adopted country as a consultant to the government (Zenit, Dec. 2/02).