Kisumu County First Lady Dorothy Nyong’o has won an international award for her effort in empowering women.
The wife to Governor Anyang’ Nyong’o was feted at the Woman of Magnitude Awards (WOMA) 2021 ceremony held in New York, America over the weekend.
The prestigious award acknowledges trail-blazers who dedicate their time to support women agenda in society.
Mrs. Nyong’o is the Managing Trustee of Africa Cancer Foundation (ACF) where she actively advocates for healthcare after her husband was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2010.
She has used her position to create awareness on the prevention, management, and treatment of cancer in the lakeside county, Kenya, and Africa at large.
Mama Kisumu, as she is fondly known, has provided consultancy services for the public sector, international and national NGOs most notably the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) and Family Health Options Kenya (FHOK) where she conducted research and wrote a project on “Strategies for increasing the visibility of NGOs in Kenya”.
According to the ACF website, the First Lady is optimistic that through the Africa Cancer Foundation, the continent will achieve the cancer-free Africa dream.
She has been honored on other occasions for her dedicated work. In 2020, together with her daughter Lupita Nyong’o, were recognised by the Harlem School of the Arts for the Visionary Lineage Award.
The event recognized extraordinary black women who lead by example as advocates for the importance of arts education through their inspiring accomplishments.
In 2019, she was among the winners announced in the Global Health Catalyst Awards where she bagged the 2019 Harvard Global Health Catalyst Cancer Advocacy Champion Award.
The Global Health Catalyst (GHC) summit is a premier yearly event at Harvard with satellite conferences in Europe and Africa dedicated to catalyzing high impact international collaborations and initiatives to eliminate global health disparities, with a focus on cancer and other non-communicable diseases.
By Robert Ojwang’
