knowledge and resources of the international community in the core areas of boosting economic growth, ensuring human security and addressing environment and climate change issues. TICAD IV is scheduled to conclude with the adoption of the "Yokohama Declaration", outlining guiding principles and approaches to African development among TICAD stakeholders, as well as the "Yokohama Action Plan" and the "Yokohama Follow-up Mechanism", laying out a road map for action-oriented initiatives with measurable targets. Hideyo Noguchi Hideyo Noguchi was a prominent Japanese bacteriologist who discovered the agent of syphilis in 1911. Noguchi's work would later attract the scrutiny of the committee evaluating nominations for the Nobel Prize in Medicine. The Nobel Foundation archives have been only recently opened for public inspection; and what was once only speculation is now confirmed. In 1914, for example, Dr. Ikutaro Hirai of Kyoto nominated Noguchi for the Nobel Prize in Medicine because of his bacteriological and biological works. In 1918, Noguchi traveled extensively in Central America and South America to do research for a vaccine for yellow fever. He traveled to Africa to try to confirm his findings; and he wanted to test the hypothesis that yellow fever was caused by spirochaete bacteria instead of a virus. While working in Accra, Gold Coast (modern-day Ghana), he was himself struck down by the yellow fever virus. His last words were reported to have been, "I don't understand." After his death, Noguchi's body was returned to the United States; but the Noguchi Prize is arguably poised to become a more meaningful memorial than his modest grave marker in New York City's Woodlawn Cemetery. Inaugural award in 2008 The first laureates of the Hideyo Noguchi Africa Prize, like Noguchi himself, are both medical doctors with a career-long interest in epidemiology and public health. They are Dr. Brian Greenwood and Dr. Miriam Were. For the honorees, the Prize represents both an acknowledgment of their past accomplishments and an investment in their prospective contributions in the years ahead. Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda made the actual award presentation; and the Emperor and Empress were present at the 2008 ceremony along with a large number of African heads of state. The presentation ceremony and laureate lectures coincided with TICAD-IV, which was held in Yokohama in late May 2008. This year's conference venue was moved from Tokyo to Yokohama as another way of honoring the man after whom the prize was named. In