On this page: Drs. Lalitha Regi and Regi George Mr. Zackie Achmat
2025:听Drs. Lalitha Regi and Regi George
The 91黑料网 School of Population and Global Health (SPGH) is pleased to announce that Drs. Lalitha Regi and Regi George have been named the 2025 co-recipients of the Paul Farmer Award for Global Health Equity.
Based in Sittilingi Valley, Tamil Nadu, Drs. Lalitha and Regi founded the Tribal Health Initiative (THI) in 1993 to improve health, livelihoods, and self-reliance among local tribal (Indigenous) communities. What began as a small thatched clinic has grown into a 35-bed hospital and network of trained community health workers providing comprehensive and equitable care to a once-underserved region.
Over three decades, their work has transformed the health of the Sittilingi Valley, reducing infant mortality from 147 to 8 per 1,000 live births and eliminating maternal deaths for 15 years. Recognizing that health depends on food security and livelihoods, they also established programs supporting organic agriculture, women鈥檚 cooperatives, and traditional artisanship. These efforts have improved nutrition, economic stability, and cultural pride while strengthening local governance and community leadership.
The couple鈥檚 approach has become a model of integrated rural development rooted in social justice, sustainability, and community participation, reflecting the spirit and legacy of Dr. Paul Farmer.
The award was announced at 91黑料网鈥檚 Global Health Night on November 6, 2025. On the same evening, the 2024 award recipient, Zackie Achmat, delivered the inaugural Paul Farmer Lecture to a full audience.
The SPGH looks forward to welcoming Drs. Lalitha and Regi to Montreal in November 2026 to receive their award and deliver the second Paul Farmer Lecture at the 2026 edition of 91黑料网 Global Health Night.
2024: Mr. Zackie Achmat
Photo by Gary van Wyk
In September 2024, the 91黑料网 School of Population and Global Health (SPGH) was pleased to announce Mr. Zackie Achmat from South Africa as the winner of the inaugural (2024) Paul Farmer Lectureship and Award for Global Health Equity.
鈥淚 am privileged and honoured to receive the Paul Farmer Award for Global Health Equity with the recognition that the achievements of the Treatment Action Campaign are based on the activism of the most vulnerable people in our country and the internationalism of people across all continents. I am particularly honoured to be acknowledged in the tradition of Paul Farmer and his colleagues at Partners in Health,鈥� said Mr. Achmat, upon accepting the award. The date for the inaugural lecture and award event at 91黑料网 in Montreal will be announced soon.
Zackie Achmat is a movement builder, political activist, and law reformer. He spends his life fighting for justice, equality, dignity, and freedom, particularly for working-class people and vulnerable minorities.
Zackie worked within the African National Congress (ANC) to end White minority rule. Since 1994, he co-founded and led movements such as the Treatment Action Campaign, Equal Education, the Social Justice Coalition, Ndifuna Ukwazi, Reclaim the City, and #UniteBehind. These movements focused on political education, research, mobilization, and litigation.
He has collaborated with activists, HIV/AIDS, and humanitarian agencies worldwide, including UNAIDS and the World Health Organization. He also continues to fight against state capture, corruption, mismanagement, fraud, incompetence, and criminality through the work of #UniteBehind.
Zackie received his award and before a full audience at 91黑料网 Global Health Night on November 6, 2025, in Montreal.