Manila: A psychiatrist who helped fellow Cambodians recover from trauma resulting from the Khmer Rouge's genocidal rule and a Japanese ophthalmologist who led an effort to treat thousands of Vietnamese villagers were among those selected for this year's Ramon Magsaysay Awards, regarded as Asia's version of the
Nobel Prize.
The other winners were a Filipina pediatrician who has provided medical, legal and social help to thousands of abused children and their families, and a Frenchman who battles plastic pollution in Indonesian rivers.
The annual awards, announced Wednesday, are named after a Philippine president who died in a 1957 plane crash, and honour greatness of spirit in selfless service to the peoples of Asia.
They are to be presented in Manila on Nov. 30.
The winners have all challenged the invisible societal lines that cause separation and have drawn innovative and inspiring ones that build connections, said Aurelio Montinola III, chairperson of the award
foundation.