International Medical Corps Doctors Receive Prestigious Award; Niarchos Prize Recognizes Life-Saving Contributions in Iraq, Afghanistan

Los Angeles, CA, May 6, 2008 – Two International Medical Corps doctors who have risked their lives to serve their communities in Afghanistan and Iraq are recipients of the prestigious Stavros S. Niarchos Prize for Survivorship.

Iraqi physician Dr. Tariq Hasoon, and Afghanistan’s “Dr. Wranga” (for security reasons she prefers to remain anonymous) were honored at a May 6 ceremony in New York, presided by the actor S. Epatha Merkerson.

As a Community Midwife Education Officer with International Medical Corps in eastern Afghanistan - one of the country’s most insecure and volatile areas - Dr. Wranga has exhibited immense personal courage in devoting her life to improving the health of Afghanistan’s neediest people.

Since 2005, Dr. Wranga, a mother of four, has been at the forefront of developing and implementing an education and training program for midwives that focuses on delivery, pre- and post-natal care, and other services essential in delivering healthy babies while minimizing the risk to the mother. As a result, during the first 17 months of Dr. Wranga’s work with International Medical Corps, 30 midwives graduated from the program in a region where women face the endemic cycle of early marriage, repeated pregnancy and poverty.

Dr. Wranga has faced great personal risk as she has worked to ensure that the most hard-to-reach and needy people receive appropriate health care, in the process becoming a powerful role model for other women in a community where female doctors are extremely rare.

Dr. Tariq Hasoon, a father of three who has worked with International Medical Corps in Baghdad since just after the war began, has likewise performed heroically under extremely dangerous conditions.

Dr. Hasoon led an emergency response team in Tal Afar, organizing and providing medical services to displaced families and those who needed emergency assistance, and re-establishing the entire primary health care system. He entered Tal Afar during particularly intense fighting and delivered medical assistance to people unable to leave the area.

Dr. Hasoon’s achievements are especially notable given he is working with an international non-governmental organization (INGO); INGOs are viewed by some in Iraq as branches or affiliates of the multi-national military forces, making Dr. Hasoon’s efforts all the more dangerous.

“My work provides me with the opportunity to see the difference that these humanitarian programs are making,” said Dr. Hasoon. “Being in the field talking to communities, while mitigating the gap between government and the people they should serve – creating a better understanding between the two - provides me with the passion that keeps me going.”

The Niarchos Prize recognizes outstanding efforts to alleviate suffering and promote resilience among the victims of war, violence, civil strife and terrorism. Other prize recipients are The Military Child Education Coalition and Bob and Lee Woodruff, authors of “In an Instant.”


Since its inception in 1984, International Medical Corps’ mission has been clear: Relieve the suffering of those affected by war, natural disaster, and disease by delivering vital health care services that focus on training. Passing on essential skills that help people help themselves is critical if those hit by tragedy are to return to self-reliance. IMC is among the four percent of U.S. charities that have received a four-star rating over four consecutive years by Charity Navigator, America's premier independent charity evaluator.