DR. Gladys Atto
Doctor of the Year
Gladys Atto, Ophthalmologist
Doctor of the year 2023.
In a country where human resources for health are still few, Dr. Gladys Atto chose to defy the odds and become the first and only eye doctor in the Karamoja subregion, which has the highest incidence of eye illnesses.
With an increasing number of sight difficulties reported in the Karamoja subregion, having a team of doctors to manage the patients would be both timely and efficient. Every month, Moroto Hospital receives between 500 and 1000 patients with eye issues that require surgery, with the busiest months being March and December. These patients can only receive care when Dr. Gladys Atto is on duty.
Dr. Henry G. Mwebesa
health service delivery
Dr. Henry G. Mwebesa, Director General, MOH
HIHA 2023, Special award for improvement of health service delivery.
On a national, regional, and district level, Dr. Mwebesa has planned and overseen a variety of health programs and initiatives. His work has been on creating systems for improving quality and performance, which includes creating standards, keeping track of performance, and setting up systems for rewards and accreditation.
Junior Delafrique
Student Innovation
Junior Delafrique, a researcher and Formulation scientist
Students Innovation winner, 2023.
Leading the charge to modernize health care via the use of herbal and alternative medicines, Deogratias Delafrique offers treatment options that are safe, effective, and reasonably priced.
In this context, the Pipeline offers VEP antimicrobial herbal wound spray, which is formulated using raw medicinal plants from the area, specifically Bidens pilosa (black jack) and aloevera. It is meant to be applied to wounds, particularly small burns, cuts, and diabetic wounds.
Ms. Agnes Nambozo
Nurse of the Year
Ms. Agnes Nambozo
Nurse of the Year, 2023.
For her heroic tenacity as a nurse at Buluganya Health Centre III in Eastern Uganda, once filmed climbing a ladder on to the mountainous Masheluse village in Nataba parish to vaccinate children.
Celina Alice Mari Bako
Midwife of the Year
Celina Alice Mari Bako
Midwife of the Year, 2023
For her extraordinary perseverance in teaching and supervising midwives in the face of challenging working and learning circumstances, while maintaining standards of care at Soroti Nursing School. Mari walked home with what she deserved, if not less than she deserves, only but a token.
Dr. Magaret Nakakeeto
Maternal and Child Health Care
Dr. Magaret Nakakeeto
Maternal and Child Health Care 2023 Winner
Dr. Magaret Nakakeeto set out to make a difference ten years ago when she developed the kangaroo afterbirth technique, saving the lives of Neonatal babies.
Kangaroo care is a classic and cost-effective way to directly warm preemies by laying them on a mother’s bosom in order to establish skin-to-skin contact. Kangaroos do a similar task to incubators. Numerous moms who gave birth prematurely at Mulago Referral Hospital would confirm that Dr. Nakakeeto saved their lives.
Dr. SIlver Bahendeka
Palliative Care
Dr. SIlver Bahendeka
Winner, Palliative Care category, 2023,
Dr. Bahendeka Senior Consultant Physician for Diabetes and Endocrinology at Doctors Plaza Clinic and St Francis Nsambya Hospital in Kampala.
His tale is one incredible perseverance and good fortune, having rose from a child that has never seen a doctor to become one of Africa’s leading authorities on diabetes.
Atukunda Nobert
Media Excellence
Atukunda Nobert, Daily Monitor
Media Excellence Heroes in Health Award 2023,
Atukunda is more than deserving of a Media Excellence in Health award for her exceptional dedication, integrity and innovation in health reporting. Her commitment to accuracy, ability to communicate complex topics, empathy towards subjects, innovative storytelling techniques, adherence to ethical standards, and impact on public health, make her a trailblazer in the field of health journalism.
Her contribution has undoubtedly made a lasting and positive impact on both the field of journalism and the health sector as a whole.
Anaka General Hospital
Public Health Facility of the year
Anaka General Hospital
Public Health Facility of the year 2023.
Anaka General Hospital in Nywoya district, northern Uganda, built in the 1960s, has faced challenges like the Lord’s Resistance Army insurgency.
Despite these, the hospital has continued to serve its community. In 2014, the Ministry of Health renovated the hospital using a World Bank loan, constructing new facilities like an outpatients’ department, mortuary, private wing, staff housing, water source, and sewerage disposal system. The hospital’s resilience and dedication serve as a testament to its commitment to providing quality healthcare services.
Yandua Matayo
Allied Health Worker
Yandua Matayo
Winner, Allied Health Worker category, 2023,
Yandua is a dedicated senior staff who trains his subordinates on how to offer quality service. He is the lab manager at Gulu Regional Referral Hospital, the facility he led to SANAS accreditation. He is the Acholi regional hub co-ordinator. In that position, he co-ordinates hub activities and a sample referral system in the Gulu sub-health region.
Ojok Jasper
Community Health Worker - North
Twongirwe Agnes
Community Health Worker - West
Sara Nakyambadde
Community Health Worker - Central
Sarah Nakyambadde
Winner, Community Health Worker - Central, 2023.
Sarah Nakyambadde is a community hero who has stood the test of time for more than 13 years. She has been serving the community of Bwaise, a slum in Kampala, Uganda, as a Community Health Worker (CHW), commonly known as a Village Health Team (VHT) member. The 52-year-old was among the first VHTs to be recruited and trained by Living Goods in 2009. Families that live in Bwaise are particularly susceptible to diarrheal disease because they live near a poorly managed drainage channel
that has become a dumping ground. Sarah's services have been vital in preventing and reducing cases of
diarrhea among children under five years.
She sacrifices her time to educate her community about epidemics and pandemics, sanitation, nutrition,
immunisation and the importance of washing hands to prevent diseases. She played a pivotal role in
educating her community about Covid-19 and Ebola and supported many pregnant women to access
timely antenatal services during the lockdown.
Kigo Livingstone
Community Health Worker - East
Kiggo Livingstone
Winner, Community Health Worker - East, 2023,
Kiggo Livingstone is a professional journalist who is working as a (VHT) Village Health Team member in Kabubiro village, Mawotto parish, Buikwe district, in the central region. He worked
as a support staff at Makindu Health Centre III in Najja sub-county, Buikwe district, as a data clerk for the Covid-19 vaccination and child health days in many outreaches in Najja sub-county.
He has worked on World Vision projects for unborn and newborn babies, as well as their mothers. He worked in a Covid-19 awareness and mobilisation-for-vaccination campaign with Brac Uganda and the Uganda Red Cross. He works with Malaria Consortium under the eCHIMS, where he is the project digital champion in digital health in villages.
DR. RUHAKANA RUGUNDA
LIFE TIME AWARD
Ruhakana Rugunda
Winner, Life Time Award category, 2023.
Ruhakana Rugunda’s contributions to the health sector in Uganda are significant and enduring. As Minister of Health and Prime Minister, Rugunda played a central role in shaping the healthcare policies of Uganda. He advocated policies that aimed to improve healthcare infrastructure, access and quality.
Rugunda was actively involved in initiatives to control and combat infectious diseases, including HIV/AIDS, malaria, COVID-19 and tuberculosis. Under his leadership, Uganda made progress in reducing the prevalence of these diseases.
He oversaw efforts to expand healthcare infrastructure, including the construction and renovation of healthcare facilities to enhance the delivery of healthcare services in both rural and urban areas. Rugunda supported initiatives to strengthen the healthcare workforce by improving training and retention programmes for healthcare professionals, such as doctors and nurses.
PROF. FRANCIS OMASWA
LIFE TIME AWARD
Professor Omaswa Francis
Winner, Life Time Award category, 2023,
Professor Omaswa Francis is a highly respected Ugandan physician, public health expert and academic who has made substantial contributions to the health sector in Uganda and beyond. Born on November 5, 1950, in Uganda, he has dedicated his career to improving healthcare delivery, medical education, and healthcare policy.
Omaswa graduated from Makerere University Medical School with a Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery degree. He pursued further studies, earning a Master of Medicine in Internal Medicine and a Doctor of Medicine degree, both from Makerere University. He has made significant contributions to the health sector in Uganda and globally. He has been a strong advocate for medical education in Africa. Omaswa played a pivotal role in the establishment of the African Center for Global Health and Social Transformation.
DR. CYPRIAN OPIRA
LIFE TIME AWARD
Dr. Opira
Winner, Life Time Award category, 2023.
Dr. Opira is a flexible, competent, reliable, intelligent, knowledgeable and committed radiologist. In his service to the needy, Opira is humane and observes the ethical code of professionalism. With his experience in fields such as radiology, he serves Uganda and other countries abroad, selflessly.
Dr. Opira is dedicated to his work and is always open to teaching others. He puts his patients first and responds whenever called. He not only serves at St. Mary’s Hospital Lacor, but also in government hospitals when he is needed. Dr. Opira stood alongside Dr. Lukwiya during the time of Ebola outbreak in Northern Uganda. God bless Dr. Opira.
DR. LYDIA MUNGHERERA
LIFE TIME AWARD
Dr. Lydia Mungeherera
Winner, Life Time Award category, 2023.
Dr. Lydia Mungeherera is a Ugandan medical doctor who started her trade in the 1980s in South Africa, following exile from Uganda’s raging wars from the 1970s to the mid-1980s. She has made a tremendous contribution to Uganda’s health sector since the 1990s. During the peak of HIV/AIDS when ARVs were hardly available, she counselled masses. She also worked as a medical officer and then advocacy officer with the AIDS Support Organisation - TASO Uganda.
Globally, she founded the Pan African Treatment Access Movement and joined the International Community of Women Living with HIV (ICW) representing the network in UNAIDS and WHO policy-making processes in Geneva.
In 2004, she founded the Mamas Club which has been instrumental in shaping HIV/AIDS policy in Uganda at the highest level: Health Policy Advisory Committee. More recently as a strong member of the Doctors fratenity (UMA), she has been shaping the agenda on Male Involvement in Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights.
Smart Applications International
USE OF ICT TO IMPROVE PATIENT CARE
Smart Applications International Ltd
Winner, Use of ICT to Improve Patient Care category, 2023.
Smart Applications International Ltd is a company that provides secure indigenous ICT solutions that transform organisational processes resulting in increased operational efficiency, and optimisation in medical programmes, administration and improved wellness management. The company has introduced the Smart Access app which is a virtual solution for medical access that is fast, convenient and reliable. The Smart Access solution offers visibility on the medical cover as well as infinite possibilities to the covered members since they can access services on the go, without a card.
Terrewode Women's Community Hospital(TWCH)
PRIVATE HEALTH CENTER
Smart Applications International Ltd
Winner, Private Health Facility of The Year category, 2023.
Terrewode Women’s Community Hospital in Soroti district is a specialised hospital providing obstetric fistula treatment and management. The facility provides the service at no cost since it recognises that women suffering from obstetric fistula are often subjected to extreme poverty, thus making it difficult for them to afford the treatment. Former patients of obstetric fistula are given an opportunity to counsel and care for those suffering from the condition. In August, Terrewode Women’s Community Hospital marked four years since its commissioning.
Uganda Red Cross
HEALTH LOGISTICS
Uganda Red Cross Society
Winner, Excellence In Health Logistics Award, 2023.
Uganda Red Cross Society has a fleet of ambulances that respond to road traffic accidents. The ambulances are operational 24 hours daily and serve the public at no cost. They are well-equipped, efficient, reliable, and serve with a humanitarian spirit. In Masaka, we are glad that the Uganda Red Cross Society gave us an ambulance, and we appreciate their response to traffic accidents.
With funding from the Government, the Uganda Red Cross Society procured Class B ambulances in 2019, and 21 of these are deployed along major highways. In case of need, there is a toll-free number, 0800211 088, for a timely response.
