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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Hopkins CCP Honors Japanese Official with Gold Medallion AwardHiroshi Taniguchi Recognized for his Outstanding Contribution to Health CommunicationBALTIMORE — Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Health’s Center for Communication Programs (CCP) has awarded Hiroshi Taniguchi the first annual International Health Communication Gold Medallion Award for his outstanding contribution to the Center’s mission of communicating health and saving lives worldwide. Taniguchi is currently senior advisor to Kimata Yoshitake, a member of Japan’s House of Councilors (Upper Chamber of Parliament) and was formerly editor of the Japan-based Integration magazine, which covered health and population issues worldwide. He also founded the Japan Support Forum, whose primary purpose is to raise funds and provide additional resources to local organizations and programs with goals aligned to those of CCP. In the last two years, the Forum — which includes representatives from the media, the academic world, civil society, and the business sector — provided contraceptive commodities, medical equipment, and corporate goods valued at approximately $1 million to local organizations in developing countries. As editor of Integration from 1985 to 1996, Taniguchi recognized the critical role health communication plays in achieving health objectives. He was instrumental in covering innovative and effective health communication programs worldwide and he featured pioneering institutions and local organizations that used strategic communication to achieve health outcomes at scale. Among these are Indonesia’s KB Mandiri (Self Reliant Movement) and Blue Circle private sector program; Turkey’s first-ever mass media campaign and social marketing initiatives implemented by the Turkish Health Family Foundation; Bolivia’s first mass media campaign to promote family planning; Egypt’s Grand Mufti’s fatwa in support of family planning; and other innovative communication projects in the Philippines, Nigeria, and Bangladesh. “Hiroshi is the first person to receive the Gold Medallion,” said Jose Rimon II, the Center’s Senior Deputy Director. “He was chosen for this honor because of his long history of selflessly contributing to a better world by supporting strategic communication programs.” While working for the Japan Organization for International Cooperation in Family Planning (JOICFP) during the early 1980s, Taniguichi was involved in Family Health Promotion Projects in more than 10 countries in Asia and Latin America. From 1996 to 2005, he served as policy adviser to two members of the Japanese Parliament: Kodo Kohata and Michihiko Kano. He has also consults the Japanese International Cooperating Agency ( JICA) and the Overseas Economic Cooperation Fund (OECF). Taniguchi graduated from Keio University with a degree in political science and completed the Leadership and Advances in Health Communication course offered by Hopkins’ CCP. Taniguichi will receive his Gold Medallion, plaque, and $1,000 in cash at a ceremony to be held early next year at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, USA. CCP’s Gold Medallion is given to individuals of any nationality that fit the following selection criteria: advocacy and resource generation; innovations in health communication programming; breakthrough achievements in advancing communication research; and/or outstanding media coverage of a public health issue. An executive committee composed of CCP’s top leadership selects the winner from nominations received from around the world. Nominations for next year’s Gold Medallion will be accepted beginning in summer 2006. Nominees should be involved in some capacity with CCP-supported programs worldwide. With representatives in more than 30 countries, Johns Hopkins’ CCP partners with organizations worldwide to design and implement strategic communication programs that influence political dialogue, collective action, and individual behavior change; enhance access to information and the exchange of knowledge to improve health and health care; and conduct research to guide program design, evaluate impact, and advance knowledge and practice in health communication. For more information, visit www.jhuccp.org. |
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