The record
The defining act
Working for the World Health Organization in Hanoi, Urbani recognized that a patient's illness was likely a dangerous new communicable disease, alerted WHO, and helped initiate containment measures.
What was at stake
SARS emerged before its cause was understood. Delayed recognition could have allowed a novel respiratory disease to spread unchecked through hospitals and across borders.
What followed
Urbani contracted SARS while investigating the outbreak and died in Bangkok in 2003. His early warning helped mobilize the international response that contained the epidemic.
Why Pax Terra remembers them
He made vigilance and international coordination into a form of care for strangers he would never meet.