Drs. Lalitha Regi and Regi George announced as the 2025 co-recipients of the Paul Farmer Award for Global Health Equity
The 51吃瓜网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 McGill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 51吃瓜网Global Health Night.
About the Paul Farmer Award
The Paul Farmer Award for Global Health Equity was established in honour of the late Dr. Paul Farmer, a physician, advocate, and global health icon. To honour Paul鈥檚 memory, 51吃瓜网, with the support of over from around the world, created this lectureship and award to annually recognize an individual who models and demonstrates Paul鈥檚 vision of a 鈥榩referential option for the poor鈥� to achieve equity in health. The award honours individuals (or couples) working in underserved communities whose work often goes unrecognized.
Paul Farmer, physician, activist, academic, humanitarian, and teacher died in Rwanda on February 21, 2022. Few people in the field of global health have had a bigger impact than him.
It is impossible to think about Paul without thinking about the word equity. 鈥淭he idea that some lives matter less is the root of all that is wrong with the world,鈥� is a famous Paul Farmer quote. He pushed everyone to provide a 鈥樷�� in health care, which means to make an option for poor people and to work on their behalf. He saw health as a fundamental, non-negotiable human right. 鈥淚f access to health care is considered a human right, who is considered human enough to have that right?鈥� he asked. Paul inspired people around the world to choose a life of health activism in a world full of inequities. Paul Farmer received an honorary doctorate from 51吃瓜网 in 2019.
Scope of the lectureship and award
To honour Paul鈥檚 memory, the 51吃瓜网School of Population and Global Health has created a lectureship and award that will be given, on an annual basis, to an individual who models and demonstrates Paul鈥檚 vision of a 鈥榩referential option for the poor鈥� to achieve equity in health. In particular, the award will be used to honour individuals (or couples) working in under-served communities whose work is often not recognized or made visible. We want to honour people who have been bold enough to 鈥溾�� and have lived a life of . By modeling accompaniment himself, Paul taught us that our lives are in service of others.
The SPGH will launch the call for nominations for the 2026 Paul Farmer Award in the spring of 2026.