Vietnamese helping victims of Agent Orange used by US troops in Vietnam War among Magsaysay winners

MANILA, Philippines -- A Vietnamese doctor who has helped seek justice for victims of the powerful defoliant dioxin “Agent Orange” used by U.S. forces during the Vietnam War is among this year’s winners of the Ramon Magsaysay Awards — regarded as Asia’s version of the Nobel Prizes.

The other winners announced on Saturday were a group of doctors who struggled to secure adequate healthcare for Thailand’s rural poor, an Indonesian environmental defender, a Japanese animator who tackles complex issues for children and a Bhutanese academician promoting his country’s cultural heritage to help current predicaments.

First given in 1958, the annual awards are named after a Philippine president who died in a 1957 plane crash, and honor “greatness of spirit” in selfless service to people across Asia.

"The award has celebrated those who challenge the status quo with integrity by courageously confronting systemic injustices, transform critical sectors through groundbreaking solutions that drive societal progress, and address pressing global issues with unwavering resilience,” said Susanna B. Afan, president of the award foundation.

Vietnamese doctor Nguyen Thi Ngoc Phuong carried out extensive research into the devastating and long-term effects of Agent Orange which she said she first encountered in the late 1960s as a medical intern when she helped deliver babies with severe birth defects as a result of the lingering effect of highly toxic chemical, according to the awards body.

"Her work serves as a dire warning for the world to avoid war at all costs as its tragic repercussions can reach far into the future,” the Magsaysay foundation said. “She offers proof that it can never be too late to right the wrongs of war and gain justice and relief for its hapless victims."

American forces used Agent Orange during the Vietnam War to defoliate Vietnamese jungles and to destroy crops for the Vietnamese Communists, or Viet Cong, who fought against South Vietnam and the United States.

Between 1962 and 1971, the U.S. military sprayed roughly 11 million gallons of the chemical agent dioxin used in Agent Orange across large swaths of southern Vietnam. Dioxin stays in the soil and in the sediment of lakes and rivers for generations. It can enter the food supply through the fat of fish and other animals.

Vietnam says as many as 4 milion citizens were exposed to the herbicide and as many as 3 million have suffered illnesses from it, including the children of people exposed during the war.

Indonesian Farwiza Farhan won the award for helping lead a group protect the Leuser Ecosystem, a 2.6-million-hectare forest on Sumatra Island in his country’s Aceh province where some of the world’s most highly endangered species have managed to survive, the foundation said.

Her group helped win a court verdict that led to $26 million in fines against a palm oil company that burned forests and stopped a hydroelectric dam that would have threatened the elephant’s habitat, the foundation said.

Miyazaki Hayao, a popular animator in Japan, was cited by the awards body as a co-founder in 1985 of Studio Ghibli, a leading proponent of animated films for children. Three Ghibli productions were among Japan’s ten top-grossing films.

"He tackles complicated issues, using his art to make them comprehensible to children, whether it be about protecting the environment, advocating for peace or championing the rights and roles of women in society,” the foundation said.

The Rural Doctors Movement, a group of Thai physicians, won the award for their “decades of struggle…to secure adequate and affordable healthcare for their people, especially the rural poor,” the foundation said.

"By championing the rural poor, the movement made sure to leave no one behind as the nation marches forward to greater economic prosperity and modernization,” it said.

Karma Phuntsho from Bhutan, a former Buddhist monk and an Oxford-educated scholar, was cited by the awards body for his academic works in the field of Buddhism and Bhutan’s rich history and cultural heritage that were being harnessed to address current and future problems in his country, including unemployment and access to high-quality education.

The winners will be presented with their awards and a cash prize on Nov. 16 at the Metropolitan Theater in Manila.