Ugandan Medic Clinches Prestigious 2020 Award of a Rome-based Institution

With the Award, sponsored by the René Furterer Laboratories, Dr. Kyamummi is expected to contribute to the reduction of child mortality in the suburbs of Kampala in a specific financing criterion, according to Sanchez.

“Indeed, the use of these funds is controlled, since the criteria for financing cooperation projects are applied,” Sanchez said referencing an amount of cash to be given to Dr. Kyamummi, having been raised through fundraising activities in Spain.

“The amount of the prize is the result of a series of fundraising activities that are being carried out in several cities in Spain, during Irene's stay,” Sanchez told ACI Africa, and added, “The amount will be around 10,000.00 euro.”

Further explaining the award package, the head of the Rome-based institution said, “The award implies a recognition of the work done so far, and an impulse to continue with the project. In other words, the prize does not look at the past, but also at the present and the future.”

Sanchez explained that the award was a “public recognition of the work of an African woman” much as it had a monetary value “to help in a concrete way the project developed by Irene.”

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CHP, which Dr. Kyamummi promotes seeks to reduce child mortality by providing health care to children in the most disadvantaged areas of sub-Saharan Africa, who are provided with two or three annual checkups to deworm them and combat malnutrition, while providing training to mothers on Hygiene and healthy habits.

In an interview with the award conveners of “the XI Harambee Prize 2020”, Ms Kyamummi divulged that the aim of CHP was to provide knowledge to children in schools and to families.

“The needs and challenges are very similar in all the nations of Africa,” said Dr. Kyamummi and added, “that is why we want to develop the CHP Project in towns near Kampala, and we hope to see that here the health education of the whole family is also reached through the children.”

Underlining the importance of education within the health project, the Harambee Prize 2020 winner said, "Of course, food and health are studied, but above all, education is provided in these subjects so that they acquire healthy habits and also know when they should see a doctor."

Infant mortality rate recorded in 2019 in Uganda, according to CIA World Factbook data, is 55 babies in a thousand births. Compared to Spain’s 3 deaths per thousand births, Uganda’s statistics are adverse, according to information provided by Harambee Africa International.

“This (mortality level) increases absolutely in slums and in the poorest areas. The CHP project began with the intention of alleviating this drama,” reads the statement.

In a statement to ACI Africa last November ahead of the Rome conference on reversing negative trends in women and leadership in Africa, Manuel Sanchez said Harambee Africa International exists “to promote in-depth discussions on development in Africa, contributing to the spread of correct information on the continent and with the ambition to try new ways of expressing the culture of human development, the ambition to go beyond the current models.”

Harambee Africa International has carried out development projects in the field of education and training in Sub-Saharan Africa since 2002, Sanchez told ACI Africa in his March 3 statement and added, “Harambee is also involved in information and awareness-raising initiatives to contribute to the diffusion of a more in-depth image of the Continent, beyond stereotypes.”

Harambee, which in Swahili means “working together to achieve something”, is an international project with a presence in Benin, Burundi, Congo, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa, Togo and Uganda where it collaborates with educational, health or assistance projects, promoted and carried out by Africans themselves in their countries.

The institution’s committees operate in Italy, France, Spain, Portugal, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Poland and the United States.

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Agnes Aineah is a Kenyan journalist with a background in digital and newspaper reporting. She holds a Master of Arts in Digital Journalism from the Aga Khan University, Graduate School of Media and Communications and a Bachelor's Degree in Linguistics, Media and Communications from Kenya's Moi University. Agnes currently serves as a journalist for ACI Africa.