Anna Qabale Duba has been crowned the ‘World’s Best Nurse’, walking away with a USD 250000 cash prize.
The former Miss Kenya 2013 received the 2022 Aster Guardian Global Nursing Award from the Chairman of Emirates Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, at an event held in Dubai on Thursday, May 12, that coincided with the International Nurses Day.
This was after she emerged top at the inaugural award competition that saw over 24,000 applications from nurses from different parts of the world.
“In my wildest dreams I never thought that one day I would be celebrated on a global platform such as this. I come from a place where the illiteracy level is quite high, after having a taste of education I decided to go back and enlighten my people through education. Illiteracy allows harmful cultural practices such as FGM to thrive in Northern Kenya,” she said in her acceptance speech.
Hailing from Torbi, a village in Northern Kenya, the Kenyan nurse who works at Marsabit County Referral Hospital has been instrumental in promoting education and the fight against harmful cultural practices such as Female Genital Mutilation and Early Child Marriages in the region.
She founded the Qabale Duba Foundation, a community organization that is championing the right of girls and women in northern Kenya. The foundation seeks to promote the development of pastoralist communities through facilitating their access to education, health, social services and economic empowerment.
Among its different programs, the foundation advocates for menstrual hygiene through the provision of sanitary towels and undergarments to girls and women, campaigns against FGM, Early Child and forced marriages.
The first female graduate in her village, Duba is also championing literacy development in Marsabit County. She founded the Torbi Pioneer Academy, which provides formal education to pastoral communities. Classes for children are held in the mornings while their mothers attend classes in the afternoon that covers sexual reproductive health and rights, menstrual health management and economic empowerment.
In recognition of her contribution, Duba has previously been the recipient of the 2019 Global Citizens Choice Award.
