Young Kenyan Doctor Wins WHO Director-General Award

  • Published on The Tennessee Tribune on 10th July 2021
  • Edited by Kipchumba Some and Anindita Ghosh
    Photo Credit: Twitter
 
  • When Kenya imposed restrictions in March 2020 to curb the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic, Jemima Kariuki, an obstetrician/gynaecologist at the Kenyatta National Hospital, noticed a drastic reduction in newborn deliveries.
  • Kariuki, a mother of one, realized that the women were not getting to the hospital, especially at night, due to lack of public transport. The government had instituted a dawn-to-dusk curfew to contain the spread of the Coronavirus.
  • She decided to do something about it…
  • And that is how Wheels for Life, a free, 24-hour ambulance service for pregnant women, was established.
  • In May 2021, she was named the 2021 winner of the World Health Organization’s Director General’s Award for Global Health for her initiative.
  • “The award boosted my morale. It means there is something we are doing right, and it is visible not just to the Kenyan community but also globally,” Kariuki told Zenger News.
   

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