WHO bestows posthumous award on late Henrietta Lacks for contribution to medical science

The World Health Organization honoured the late Henrietta Lacks, an African-American woman whose cells provided incalculable breakthroughs to scientists in the modern medical world. Lacks died 70 years ago on October 4, 1951, due to cervical cancer, but her illness opened doors to curing thousands across the world. During her treatment, researchers took a sample of her cells without her family's consent.

Later, the researchers named the tissues "HeLa cells", which became a popular word in the medical world. The cancer cells taken from her body became a research substance for scientists globally, and it was after research on those sample cells that the medical world developed vaccines for dangerous diseases such as polio, cancer, drugs for HIV, and the most recent COVID-19 research.

WHO gives posthumous award to late Henrietta Lacks

WHO gave recognization to Henrietta Lacks' contribution by inviting her family members at the WHO office in Geneva, where Lawrence Lacks, Lacks' 87-year-old son, was given recognition on behalf of his mother. Before giving the award to Lawrence at the ceremony, the WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus stated, "What happened to Henrietta was wrong." Those remarks were made because the global scientific community did not reveal the real story of Lacks as she was a black woman.

According to an official statement issued by WHO, Dr Tedros at the award-giving ceremony said, "In honouring Henrietta Lacks, WHO acknowledges the importance of reckoning with past scientific injustices and advancing racial equity in health and science. It’s also an opportunity to recognise women, particularly women of color, who have made incredible but often unseen contributions to medical science, "he added

Lacks' eldest son, who was present there to receive the award on behalf of his mother, expressed his happiness at such recognition. He said, "We are moved to receive this historic recognition of my mother, Henrietta Lacks – honouring who she was as a remarkable woman and the lasting impact of her HeLa cells. My mother’s contributions, once hidden, are now being rightfully honoured for their global impact. My mother was a pioneer in life, giving back to her community, helping others live a better life, and caring for others. In death, she continues to help the world. Her legacy lives on in us and we thank you for saying her name – Henrietta Lacks," as per WHO's official website.

The 31-year-old Henrietta Lacks and her husband were raising their five children near Baltimore when she first fell ill and later started treatment at Johns Hopkins Hospital. Lacks experienced heavy vaginal bleeding when she was diagnosed with cervical cancer, but at that time, doctors couldn't cure her illness due to a lack of knowledge on cervical cancer. It was during the treatment that the researchers took a sample of her tumour, which was named "HeLa" cells which were distributed around the world and became the subject of over 75,000 studies.

Image: AP