SharecloseShare pageCopy linkAbout sharingImage source, Aster GuardiansA Kenyan nurse who campaigns against early marriage and female genital mutilation says she is “speechless” after winning a prize of $250,000 (£205,000).Anna Qabale Duba’s colleagues say she always goes the extra mile for others in her pastoralist community in the northern county of Marsabit, and runs a school in her village.”This award will help me to expand my school all over Kenya,” she told BBC Newsday.In the morning the classrooms of Torbi Pioneer Academy host lessons for children, before their parents come in for literacy classes in the afternoons – and sometimes both age groups get the same homework.Ms Qabale says she was the only university-educated girl from Torbi village, and the only girl educated past primary school level in her family of 19 children.The 31-year-old now holds a Masters in Epidemiology and has set up a foundation aimed at empowering young girls and mothers.”I am so passionate about education. After tasting the fruits of education, I decided to go back home to empower the rest,” she told the BBC.Image source, Getty ImagesThrough her Qabale Duba Foundation, the school she has built in her village also teaches parents about key sexual and reproductive health issues.Working as a nurse at Marsabit County Referral Hospital, she strives to end harmful cultural practices such as female genital mutilation (FGM) and early marriage, and it is for her work in these areas that Dubai-based Aster DM healthcare says she beat more than 24,000 nominees to their Global Nursing Award.”It’s not easy to talk about these things publicly. Being a woman – and we come from our patriarchal families – it’s not easy to talk about them, but I am really trying my level best,” Ms Qabale told the BBC.”I am using education as an excuse for my advocacy work to campaign against these devices.” ‘I escaped forced marriage aged 14’Her personal experiences have shaped her convictions.”I underwent female genital mutilation at the age of 12 and I narrowly escaped early forced marriage at the of 14,” she said.Even though FGM is illegal in Kenya, around 91% of girls and young women are subjected to it in the country’s northern regions, according to the Kenyan Anti-FGM board.Parents and guardians often take their daughters across the border into neighbouring countries to escape Kenya’s stringent laws. Colleagues say Ms Qabale’s drive has seen women and girls become more aware of their healthcare rights. Image source, Aster Guardians”She knows all too well the challenges that young girls face,” Hassan Halakhe, director of preventive promotion health services at Marsabit County Referral Hospital, told the BBC.”Many of them now do not miss out on classes as they are given sanitary towels to use when they are on their menses. They are also taught how to make reusable pads.”Thursday’s ceremony in Dubai was Ms Qabale’s second high-profile gong, having won the Global Citizens’ People’s Choice Award in New York in 2019.Kenya’s Health Minister Mutahi Kagwe praised Ms Qabale’s “hard work and her fearless spirit”, while Marsabit County Referral Hospital Director Liban Wako says “this award means so much to young girls in Marsabit – that they too can achieve their dreams.” You may also be interested in:This video can not be playedTo play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.More on this storyKenyan science teacher wins global prizeA quick guide to Kenya

SharecloseShare pageCopy linkAbout sharingimage source, AFPThe head of Africa’s health agency has warned that the UK’s policy of not accepting Covid-19 vaccine certificates from the continent could increase vaccine hesitancy.Dr John Nkegasong said the UK’s stance was confusing and had far-reaching implications for vaccination campaigns. “We do not understand why the UK has taken this position,” he told a virtual news briefing. Many Africans are furious, and have called the policy discriminatory.Last week the UK government removed several countries from its so-called “red list”, from where travellers would need to quarantine if they visited England. However, it said those who have had their vaccines in most countries outside the EU and the US would still need to quarantine because the UK would not accept the certificates. The other UK nations – Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland – set their own health policies.Dr Nkegasong, head of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), said some people in Africa would ask why they should take these vaccines if they were not recognised internationally.He said it was “a message that creates confusion within our population… creating more reticence, reluctance for people to receive vaccines”.”This message doesn’t really speak to solidarity and co-operation that we all believe are the cornerstone and ingredients for us to emerge from this pandemic together,” he addedDr Richard Mihigo from the World Health Organization’s Africa region says countries should now find a way of coming up with a mutual system that will recognise vaccine certificates by different countries. Less than 4% of people in Africa are fully vaccinated against Covid-19, compared to around 54% in the US and 65% in the UK.A shortage of vaccines is a problem in most African countries but in some, such as the Democratic Republic of Congo, vaccine hesitancy is a major issue and the government is trying to persuade more people to get jabs.You may also be interested in:Africa Live: For more on this and other storiesHow short of vaccines is Africa?UK recognises India’s Covishield jab after outcry