By Eddie Ssemakula
Husn Hussein, a pharmacist and climate change campaigner, came up with a novel local solution to catch plastic in Kampala’s drains after observing how it affected the daily life of Kampalans. He already knows how hard it is to get money for many innovations—many of which, unlike his, never make it to market. However, it doesn’t appear that this has affected him yet.
He is excited to discuss his greatest accomplishment in the medical sector as the recipient of the Hero in Health award for the Students Innovation category.
That, according to him, entails creating and putting into practice a novel approach to the problem of climate change but it’s only one of the numerous novelties he’s working on with a September 2024 deadline.
He expresses his gratitude to HIHA for inspiring him to continue innovating in the healthcare industry. “HIHA was a huge turning point in my professional life! It has tremendously increased my opportunities in the projects I’m working on right now, and motivated me to work more because I know that the public sees the efforts some of us put forth, and these are some of the benefits.”
He wants many Ugandans to be better informed about how healthcare and climate change interact. “The temperature in Uganda has reached up to 30°C over the past few days, causing us to be concerned about the storage of medications in pharmacies.” This demonstrates the effects and implications of climate change on healthcare.”
As he concludes he bears a last word that may as well be fundamental to the realization of a healthy intersection between climate change and healthcare.
“Since every effort counts in the fight against climate change, I would like to support funding to advance this project. Who knows, maybe one day plastic waste on Kampala’s and Uganda’s soils will stop, marking a significant advancement in the fight against climate change.”
