Moroccan biologist wins Women in Science fellowship

A Moroccan biologist and professor at the Abdelmalek Essaâdi University in Tétouan, Naima Abatoui, has been awarded a L'Oreal-UNESCO Women of Science fellowship for 2013. She is set to receive her fellowship in a ceremony in Paris on March 28. L'Oreal CEO Jean-Paul Agon and the Director-General of UNESCO, Irina Bokova, will attend the ceremony. Abatoui will receive $40,000 over two years to carry on her research in the parasitic disease leishmaniasis. Transmitted by a species of sandfly, the disease is endemic in 88 countries, including Morocco, and afflicts 2 million people every year. The Moroccan biologist's research focuses on environmental and social factors that facilitate the spread of the disease, and may help save millions of people who are endangered. Women and children living in rural parts of Morocco are especially vulnerable to the disease, outbreaks of which occur annually.   Leishmaniasis causes skin lesions, disfigurement and enlarged liver and could be deadly if left untreated.