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Last month, Uganda’s Ministry of Health and IntraHealth International honored several outstanding health workers for their leadership and exemplary service. Each of the awardees serves on the front lines of Uganda’s health workforce and has made great contributions to improving service delivery in the country’s health sector.
These awardees were nominated by their communities and colleagues for going above and beyond the call of duty. They all share a spirit of outstanding service, resourceful determination, and dedication to their colleagues and communities:
- Professor Francis Omaswa, executive director of the African Centre for Global Health and Social Transformation, won the Pauline Muhuhu Leadership Award for working tirelessly throughout his career as a champion for health workers.
- Teddy Tiberimbwaku, an enrolled midwife at the Malongo Health Centre II in Mayuge District, won the Frontline Health Worker Award for eight years of dedicated service in the underserved Mayuge District.
- Dennis Tabula, a senior clinical office at Bweema Health Center IV, won the Frontline Health Worker Award for his work as the main resource for HIV/AIDS prevention, care, and treatment in the difficult-to-reach Buvuma District.
- The Yumbe District Hospital staff won the Health Innovator Award for their outstanding spirit of collaboration, excellent service, and vital role in the health of the Yumbe District’s 545,500 people.
The event—Celebrating Health Workers in Uganda—was held at the Munyonyo Conference Center outside Kampala. Ugandan Vice President Edward Ssekandi, Ugandan Minister of Health Dr. Christine Ondoa, USAID’s Mission Director in Uganda Dr. Leslie Reed, IntraHealth’s president and CEO Pape Gaye, and over 150 representatives of the Ugandan government and health workers’ associations, development partners, and civil society representatives came together to honor the awardees.
Attendees were also celebrating another success for the health sector: the Ugandan government’s newly enacted funding to recruit over 6,000 new health workers and raise pay rates for many existing health workers.
“The Ugandan Government’s commitment to investing in recruiting more health workers is laudable,” said Gaye at the ceremony. “Uganda has recently made great strides in improving the health sector, thereby improving access to high-quality health care to its citizens. The government has made progress in addressing its critical shortage of health workers.”
The Ugandan government realizes that one of the key determinants of good health is an excellent health workforce—one that is charged with planning, managing, and providing both preventive and curative health care, Vice President Ssekandi said during his opening remarks.
“Good health is a cornerstone to achieving economic growth and development,” he said. “I salute all the health workers who have continuously supported me in the fight against poverty and ill health of our people. I want to congratulate those who have are being honored today for their special contributions in the health care field. We are looking out for role models and examples of health leaders and managers who will mentor the future generation.”