Over time, the effectiveness of artemisinin-based combination therapies (ACTs) in treating malaria became widely recognized internationally, leading to increased adoption by the World Health Organization (WHO) and other global health organizations. This slowly brought attention to Tu Youyou's pivotal role.

Tu Youyou received the prestigious Lasker Award for Clinical Medical Research, which significantly raised her profile and cemented her legacy as a pioneering scientist. The award recognized her discovery of artemisinin, which has saved millions of lives worldwide.

Tu Youyou was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, jointly with William C. Campbell and Satoshi Ōmura. She received one half of the prize for her discovery of artemisinin, making her the first female citizen of the People's Republic of China and the first Chinese scientist to receive a Nobel Prize in science for research conducted entirely in China. This was a watershed moment for Chinese science.