MIRIAM K. WERE

Prof Miriam K. Were is married to Humphreys R. Were, an Agriculturist, and they have children and grandchildren.

Prof Miriam K. Were is a Medical Doctor (University of Nairobi), and holds Masters and Doctor of Public Health degrees from Johns Hopkins University in USA. She holds Batchelor’s degree in Natural Science and qualified to teach Secondary school level Biology, Chemistry and Physical Education which she did for two years before Medical School. In her health career, she has worked for the Ministry of Health of Kenya; lectured at the University of Nairobi and has taught at McGill University in Canada as an Associate Professor. Between 1985 and 2000, she worked in the United Nations agencies of UNICEF, World Health Organisation and the United Nations Population Fund.

She has been Chair of Kenya’s National AIDS Control Council; Chair of the International Board of the African Medical and Research Foundation; Member of the Board of Global Health Workforce Alliance amongst others.

She is the former Chancellor of Moi University, a Member of Champions for AIDS-Free Generation, Kenya’s Goodwill Ambassador for Community Health, Co-Founder of UZIMA Foundation and serves on various boards.

Prof Miriam K. Were is widely published professionally and she is the author of a biography and four novels.

Among the honours she has received are Hideyo Noguchi Africa Prize by Japan; Queen Elizabeth II Gold Medal for Public Health; George G. Tolbert Award of the National Council of International Health, USA; Knight of the French National Honours for work in Mother and Child Health; UNICEF’s Maurice Pate Award for Contribution to Primary Health Care; Award of Outstanding Merit by the National Council of Women of Kenya; Shujaa (Heroine) for Academic Prowess, Kenya & Elder of the Burning Spear in Kenya’s National honours. Miriam K. Were has received Honorary degree of Doctor of Science from Moi University in Kenya in December, 2008; The Honorary degree of Doctor from Ochanomizu University in Japan in February, 2011 and Doctor of Humane Letters by DePaul University, Chicago, USA in June, 2011.

 

• Message

I dream of an Africa in which every household has access to nearby Community Health Services (CHS) that provide health-promoting, disease-preventing and first-line curative services: An Africa in which CHS is an entry wedge for empowering and enlightening broad-based Community Development; An Africa in which CHS is linked to health facilities thru referral;

I dream of an Africa where households are established by informed and positively empowered men and women in which emerges true partnerships between wives and husbands, fathers and mothers further contributing to the enlightenment of society;

I dream of an Africa where households are supported by empowered communities as they learn the art and science of parenting; enlightened parents that raise loved and loving citizens;

I dream of an Africa where every child has access to effective Preschool, Primary and Secondary Education; an Africa with well-established Universities where those who qualify and desire University education may study and also with properly established Training Technical Institutions;

I dream of an Africa where games, sports, song, drama and dance become means of individual and group joy and satisfaction as empathy and compassion become the channels for nurturing a sense of brotherhood and sisterhood nationally and internationally.;

I dream of an Africa that is developed, peaceful and stable; An Africa standing shoulder-to-shoulder with other regions of the world and participating in birthing the Global Community in which we shall all be at home in our journeys on planet earth!
As a member of Kenjin-Tatsunjin of ASHINAGA, she prays that the scholars from the Ashinaga Africa Initiative (AAI) make big contributions to bring about this Africa she dreams of.