Women in Focus Awards: Uganda, Kenya, Nigeria and Ethiopia health workers shortlisted
Three Ugandan health workers have been shortlisted in the inaugural Women in Focus Awards taking place in Geneva, Switzerland this week.
The finalists also include one Kenyan, one Nigerian and one Ethiopian.
The awards are set out to celebrate the integral role that women play in the on-going fight against neglected tropical diseases, a role which often goes unrecognised and unrewarded.
The three nominees from Uganda are: Edridah Muheki Tukahebwa, who has dedicated her career for tackling NTDs in Uganda; Aciro Grace Oyat, who started volunteering as a community drugs distributor and worked during the LRA insurgency in northern Uganda; and Nancy Komakech, who is concerned about the detrimental effect that data has on identifying and testing Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs).
Other finalists of the awards include Susan Nkirote Mbabu from Kenya, Agnes Ochai from Nigeria and Birke Nigatu from Ethiopia.
For their outstanding role in fighting NTDs, the health practitioners were selected by an international judging panel and will be joining women from 11 other countries.
Tukahebwa, who has worked in the area of tracking NTDs for over 20 years, is a finalist for the “Leadership Award”.
Aciro Grace Oyat and Birke Nigatu are selected finalists for the “Inspirational Award”.
Nancy Komakech, Susan Nkirote Mbabu and Agnes Ochai are finalists for the “Community Champion Award”.
Dr Wendy Harrison, the Chairperson of the Neglected Tropical Diseases NGDO Network (NNN), said that the Awards were a celebration of women who are making a remarkable impact in treating NTDs in their communities.
“The Women in Focus Awards shine a light on women from all over the world who are working in their local communities, making a remarkable impact on tackling Neglected Tropical Diseases. One in seven people on the planet suffer from these diseases. That’s more than the entire population of Europe,” Dr Harrison said.
“Every day women all around the world are making crucial contributions to help defeat them and this is our chance to celebrate and acknowledge their vital role. We were blown away by the standard of entries and [are] delighted to be honouring these truly remarkable women from Uganda,” she added.
According to the End Fund, an NGO that fights the diseases, NTDs are a group of parasitic and bacterial infectious diseases that affect over 1.5 billion of the world’s most impoverished people, including 875 million children.
They can cause severe pain, long-term disability, and are the cause of death for over 170,000 people per year. Amongst children, infection leads to malnutrition, cognitive impairment, stunted growth, and the inability to attend school.
