Mary Ajwang | Global Health Corps

Mary Ajwang

Mary

Co-fellow

Taylor

Taylor Hendricks

Placement Country: Uganda
Title: Program Coordinator — Mother Baby Friendly Hospitals
As a clinician, health equity speaks to my own county's health system that is broken and cannot provide for every single person a deserving and free good quality health service; it speaks to the discrimination that I have seen and felt where health facilities do not offer services to critically ill patients who badly need them because they cannot afford it. Health equity tells me that it is my role to let everyone come together and strive for what is their birth right - the right to achieve the highest level of health.

Mary Ajwang is from the Oyam District of Northern Uganda. After graduating with a nursing degree from Makerere University in Kampala, Mary completed a clinical internship program in Kristianstad Central Hospital, Sweden. There, she received training in pediatrics, surgery, obstetrics and gynecology and general medicine. While working at her internship, she was exposed to the great differences between health care systems in Sweden and Uganda and was driven to help mend that problem. Once Mary returned from Sweden, she worked as a pediatric ward nurse in a government aided Lira Region referral hospital. In her time there, she obtained extensive clinical and health promotion experience. This experience benefited her greatly when she went on to pursue her Master of Public Health at Glasgow Caledonian University, United Kingdom. Mary also volunteered with UNICEF-UK while in Glasgow. She loves reading, traveling, meeting new people and playing team medic for a local basketball team in Kampala.