Artemisinin is traditional Chinese medicine’s gift to the world

　　On December 7, Tu Youyou (right) attended a lecture at the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, Sweden. On the same day, Chinese female pharmacologist Tu Youyou attended the Nobel Laureate Lecture in Physiology or Medicine held at the Karolinska Institute in Sweden to introduce scientific research results such as artemisinin to the Swedish people.

　　At 10 a.m. local time on December 7, although there were still three hours before the start of the lecture by the 2015 Nobel Prize winner in Physiology or Medicine, more than 300 people had already gathered at the entrance of the auditorium of the Karolinska Institute in Sweden in the biting cold wind. Lin Chenhong, a Chinese student at the Karolinska Institute who was at the front of the queue, said that in order to see world-class scientists up close, she rushed over at dawn at 8:30 in the morning. Indeed, from the people waiting in line and the congratulatory banners hung on the lawn in front of the auditorium, the reporter can clearly feel the great concern and heartfelt pride of the Swedish Chinese community in Tu Youyou's journey to the Nobel Prize.

　　This lecture is hard to come by. The auditorium of the Karolinska Institute has more than 1,000 seats. Although the speaker will not take the stage for more than half an hour, except for the 200 reserved guest seats, the entire venue is already full. Audiences at the back of the queue can only watch the live TV broadcast outside the venue. According to the arrangement of the conference organizer, Tu Youyou gave the final speech. When Tu Youyou, dressed in a lake blue suit, stepped onto the podium, the audience once again gave warm applause to this energetic Chinese female scientist. In order to prevent Tu Youyou, who is in poor health and is 85 years old, from being overtired, the Nobel Prize jury also specially placed seats on the podium so that Tu Youyou could sit down and give speeches.

　　In her speech, Tu Youyou first described how Chinese scientists worked hard under difficult circumstances forty years ago to find new antimalarial drugs from the treasure trove of traditional Chinese medicine. She said that clear goals and persistence of belief are the prerequisites for successful antimalarial drug research. As a young scientific researcher, she had the opportunity to accept such an important task. Not only did she realize the country's trust in her, but she also felt deeply that the responsibility was heavy and the task was arduous. Therefore, I am determined to fulfill my mission, work hard, and do my best to complete the task.

　　In her speech, she emphasized that teamwork and selfless cooperation accelerate the process of transforming scientific discoveries into effective drugs. Without the full collaboration of all relevant units in the anti-malarial research project, it would have been impossible for artemisinin to contribute to the world in the short term. She will remember those colleagues who have made outstanding contributions to the research, discovery and application of artemisinin.

　　She pointed out that malaria is still a serious challenge to world public health, with 3.3 billion people in 97 countries and regions still facing the threat of malaria. In the Greater Mekong region, Plasmodium falciparum has become resistant to artemisinin, and the task of curbing artemisinin resistance is urgent. She took this opportunity to call on global anti-malarial workers to conscientiously implement the relevant global plans of the World Health Organization.

　　As the speech came to an end, Tu Youyou once again talked about traditional Chinese medicine. She pointed out that through her research experience on the anti-malarial drug artemisinin, she deeply felt that both Chinese and Western medicine have their own strengths. The organic combination of the two and their complementary advantages will have greater development potential and good development prospects. “Nature has provided us with a large number of plant resources, from which medical researchers can develop new drugs. Traditional Chinese medicine began when Shennong tasted hundreds of herbs. It has accumulated a lot of clinical experience over thousands of years of development, and has summarized the medicinal value of natural resources. Through inheritance, development, exploration and improvement, we will surely make discoveries and innovations, thereby benefiting mankind."