ARCHIVED MEDIA RELEASE
PA/8/2003 28 March 2003
Leading Australian immunologist in India with message of health and wealth
Eminent Australian scientist Sir Gus Nossal today argued a compelling case to demonstrate how improved health in developing countries would contribute massively to economic development as well as saving millions of lives.
He said that a global investment of US$31 billion a year would not only save eight million lives a year but could reap economic gains of US$186 billion a year.
Professor Nossal, one of the world's leading immunologists, is Chairman of the Strategic Advisory Council of the Bill and Melinda Gates Children's Vaccine Program.
He delivered his messages to a high-level audience in New Delhi, in the second Sir John Crawford Lecture, titled International Health Advances in a Troubled World: Challenges for International Cooperation.
The Crawford Lecture is a project to exchange knowledge and understanding between Australia and India on issues of major public interest. It is hosted jointly by the National Council for Applied Economic Research (NCAER) and the Australia-India Council (AIC), the body set up by the Australian Government to foster people-to-people links.
The Australian High Commissioner, Ms Penny Wensley AO, said that this lecture, by "a truly great Australian", was timely and relevant.
"Professor Nossal's visit to India for this prestigious lecture is another sign of the increasing strength and sophistication of engagement between our two countries, including in the vital areas of health and science - particularly biomedical science," Ms Wensley said.
Gus Nossal has had a long and close professional association with India. During his current one-week visit, he has called on the President of India, HE Dr APJ Abdul Kalam, and is interacting extensively with leading Indian biomedical scientists to explore further collaboration in this field between the two countries.
Gus (Gustav) Nossal has been at forefront of the global fight against disease for decades. He was knighted in 1977, made a Companion of the Order of Australia in 1989 and appointed Australian of the Year in 2000. He has received numerous other honours from 11 countries. He has been President (1986-1989) of the 25,000-member world body of immunology, the International Union of Immunological Societies; President of Australian Academy of Science (1994-1998), a member of the Australian Prime Minister's Science, Engineering and Innovation Council (1989 to 1998), and is Professor Emeritus at the University of Melbourne.
The lecture program in New Delhi is in memory of Sir John Crawford, a distinguished Australian economist and administrator, who worked closely with Indian and international colleagues to pioneer the Green Revolution in India's agricultural development.
For further information, please contact Rory Medcalf, First Secretary (Political), at 26888223, ext 197.