Red Cross aid worker Andrew Cameron, who has worked in some of the world's worst trouble spots, has become one of only a small number of New Zealanders to receive the highest nursing honour - the Florence Nightingale medal.
Mr Cameron, from Hawke's Bay, who is currently serving in South Ossetia which is fighting for its independence from neighbouring Georgia, said he was shocked but proud to receive the award.
"I think it's a testament to the quality of staff New Zealand Red Cross sends to overseas aid programmes, and the standard of nursing graduates from New Zealand."
He said his wife and daughter would be "tickled pink - although they have suffered from my long absences".
"They realise that sometimes you forgo something from our comfortable lives at home, in order to help those who have suffered from war, those who are in greater need."
New Zealand Red Cross International operations manager Andrew McKie nominated Mr Cameron for the medal, and said he was a hands-on operator passionately dedicated to his work.
Mr Cameron has made a significant contribution to the work of New Zealand Red Cross since he became an aid worker in 1996, and had worked in a number of challenging environments, he said.
"Andrew Cameron has undertaken seven missions for New Zealand Red Cross; Kenya, Sudan, Yemen, Iraq, and two in Afghanistan, and now he is on mission in South Ossetia as an aid worker.
"Andrew is there assisting in remote villages that have been affected by the regional conflict."
Awarded by the International Committee of Red Cross (ICRC), the Florence Nightingale medal is awarded to people who distinguish themselves in times of peace or war by showing exceptional courage and devotion to the wounded, sick or disabled or to civilian victims of conflict or disaster.
Only 50 Florence Nightingale medals are awarded worldwide every two years. Mr Cameron is the 25th New Zealand nurse to be honoured with the medal since the first in 1920.
He will be presented his medal at an official function when he returns to New Zealand later in the year.
