An aid worker and campaigner for women and children's rights in India has been named winner of the Robert Burns Humanitarian Award (RBHA).

Ann Ferrer has worked in India since the mid-1960s and the Rural Development Trust in India to promote women's rights.

With her husband, she has established four major hospitals, six rural clinics, two mobile clinics and other special-care centres in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.

Ms Ferrer's award was accepted on her behalf by Dr Raj Koppada from the UK-based charity, Friends of Rural Development Trust at a ceremony in Burns Cottage in Alloway on Wednesday evening.

Speaking from India, Ms Ferrer said: "This award comes as a wonderful surprise. I really admire the efforts of my fellow finalists and I did not expect to win.

"It's a great recognition that the eradication of extreme poverty is not a dream but a reality, and that with commitment, constancy and belief in people, nothing is impossible."

The Burns Award was created to recognise the efforts of people who help change lives for the better in often desperate situations.

As well as the RBHA 2018 title, Ms Ferrer will receive the equivalent of 1759 guineas, approximately £1,800, a sum which signifies the year of the Bard's birth and the coinage then in circulation.