On this occasion, HRH Princess Lalla Salma awarded the international prize for the fight against cancer to Dr. Rengaswamy Sankaranarayanan, special advisor on cancer control and Head of early detection at the WHO's International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), known worldwide for his major contribution in early detection of cervical cancer.

   Speaking on this occasion, Dr. Sankaranarayanan expressed his gratitude to HRH Princess Lalla Salma and to the Lalla Salma Foundation for this prestigious distinction, which he described as a "great honor".

   Dr. Rengaswamy Sankaranarayanan has extensive international experience in evaluating and disseminating a variety of early detection strategies for major cancers (such as cervical, breast, colorectal, and head and neck cancers) and in providing wide-ranging technical assistance in education, training, and organizational aspects of cancer early detection programmes in low- and medium-resource countries.

   HRH Princess also handed the national prize for fight against cancer to Faiza Rifai Semmar for her dedication and volunteer work with cancer patients.

   Following her distinction, Semmar Rifai said the national award she received is "a tribute to all volunteers who generously joined the far-reaching humanitarian project initiated by HRH Princess Lalla Salma".

   The ceremony was marked by the testimonies of three beneficiaries of the Lalla Salma Foundation services, who emphasized the importance of early detection in facing cancer.

   The prize giving ceremony was also marked by the screening of a film about the careers of the winners of the Foundation national and international awards.

   Upon arrival, HRH Princess Lalla Salma was welcomed by ministers of Health El Houssaine Louardi, of Higher Education Lahcen Daoudi and of Industry, Trade , Investment and the Digital Economy Moulay Hafid Lalamy as well as the Wali of the Rabat-Salé-Zemmour-Zaer region Abdelouafi Laftit and El Hassan Cherkaoui, Director General of ALSLC.