BY NATHAN GUMA
IN Togo’s coastal town of Aneho, some 45.7 kilometres from Lomé, the country’s capital city, one young medical doctor is waging a quiet war against diabetes – an invisible killer that has been slowly claiming lives in the country’s rural areas.
For Haniifah Ouro-Nile, stationed at the Centre Hospitalier Prefectoral d’Aneho, where she is head of medical emergency services, the fight against diabetes is personal.
“My journey into medicine began with a deep desire to serve my community,” she says. “Early on, I witnessed many preventable health challenges affecting families, particularly those related to chronic diseases. Diabetes stood out because of its growing prevalence and the heavy burden it places on individuals and healthcare systems, especially in underserved rural areas.”
Now, she is building an innovation, a phone-run application to empower people living with diabetes by providing accessible, personalised and easy-to-use tools for daily management.
This year, her dedication earned her significant recognition, as she was selected for the prestigious Mandela Washington Fellowship, run by the US Department of State, where she was placed under the Public Management Track at Syracuse University, in the state of New York.
She says the disease’s continual prevalence in rural areas motivated her to specialise her efforts towards diabetes care and prevention, aiming to create solutions that are accessible, culturally appropriate, and impactful.
Haniifah herself has been actively involved in community work for six years within various non-profit organisations dedicated to the prevention of non-communicable diseases such as diabetes, high blood pressure, and infectious diseases.
