The Gender Pre-Summit of the African Union (AU) began Tuesday in Addis Ababa, with the presentation of awards to five distinguished female scientists from across the continent whose research contributions in water management, medicine and more were honored.

The meetings ahead of the summit, chaired by Dr. Jean Kalilani of Malawi, gather the gender ministers of AU member states with a theme this year on youth, and an emphasis on strategies to benefit girls.

Previous award winners include President Ameenah Gurib-Fakim of Mauritius, who remains committed to science in service to good governance.

This year’s Kwame Nkrumah Regional Awards for women, determined by the AU with sponsorship support from the European Union, include:

• Jane Catherine Ngila from Kenya as the East Africa Region laureate for her research in the area of Analytical-Environmental Chemistry on water resource management.
• Lamia Chaari Fourati from Tunisia as the North Africa Region laureate for her research activities on conception and validation of new protocols and mechanisms for quality of service provisioning over emerging networks technologies.
• Associate Prof. Celia Abolnik from South Africa as the laureate of the South Africa Region for her research in avian respiratory viruses, especially those that effect chicken and ostrich production in Africa.
• Rokia Sanogo from Mali as one of the West Africa Region laureates for her research in Pharmacognosy with a particular focus on Traditional Medicines.
• Olu-Owolabi Bamidele from Nigeria as the second laureate of the West Africa Region for her research on the development of sustainable alternative materials for water treatment.

Each award recipient receives a prize of USD $20,000 to advance their goals in science, technology and innovation. To learn more about the awards program, see the AU website.