A doctor and a nurse who work in a hospital in Haiti have been named “Swiss of the Year” by a nationwide public television poll.
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Marianne Kaufmann, a 27-year-old nurse, and 67-year-old Rolf Maibach, who have both been active in a hospital north of Port-au-Prince for several years, won 19 per cent of the vote.
The humanitarian workers succeed a heart surgeon and a government minister who won the competition in the two previous years.
Prizes were also awarded for special categories, including business, culture, entertainment, politics and society.
The competition was launched in 2002 and the winners get their names engraved on a rock on an alp in central Switzerland.
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Thomas Kern has documented the daily struggle of Haitians since 1997. These pictures show the difficulties ordinary people face as well as their relationship with voodoo religion. Thomas Kern works as a picture editor for swissinfo.ch and as a freelance photgrapher.
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