CHRISTINE OTAI: WINNER: HIHA2021 LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD

CHRISTINE OTAI: WINNER: HIHA2021 LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD

Christine looks after premature newborn with Kangaroo Mother Care. Photo by Jonathan Torgovnik.

If there is anyone who deserves this award, it is Christine Otai. We looked up a few things that others have said about her work. In 2014, Debrah Lester, a clinician with 25 years of experience in the field of Maternal and Child Health called Christine a champion for Change. In her blog, Lester wrote: Sister Christine Otai is the manager of the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) and Maternity departments at Kiwoko Hospital. She has worked at Kiwoko since 1989. The NICU at Kiwoko treats over 750 premature and sick infants, and the maternity ward delivers more than 2,000 babies annually. Christine attends to high-risk deliveries. She utilizes resuscitation techniques, stabilization and safe transfer of newborn infants. She supports initiation of treatment, including complicated intensive therapy in accordance with the agreed guidelines and protocols. Christine guides student nurses practicing in the NICU and Maternity ward, building their confidence and competence in infant and maternal care. She is a qualified trainer in neonatal resuscitation and has been directly involved in the training of over 500 staff, all of whom have the essential skills to impact the first critical moments in an infant’s life. Also under her guidance, Kangaroo Mother Care and other neonatal health interventions have been rolled out at the hospital, with a noticeable reduction in complications for low-birth-weight infants. Just eight years ago, babies weighing 1.0-1.4kg had only a 31% chance of survival. Today, thanks to expert care from Kiwoko staff under Christine’s leadership, these tiny babies now have an 86% chance of survival.

Christine has also been a driving force, and primary trainer for the implementation of the Community Based Healthcare program. The program trains local volunteers to check for warning signs of complications for the newborn and in pregnancy and to refer women to health facilities if medical aid is needed. These volunteers provide education on childbirth to women in the community, reaching 44 villages in the area surrounding Kiwoko Hospital.

Christine is knowledgeable on every patient who comes into the wards, their family, their specific needs, and with limited resources, does everything to ensure they receive the best care possible. It is Christine’s drive and compassion that pushes her staff and peers to excel, and to never give up and to keep learning. Source (Christine’s Story: A Champion for Change, 2014 available here)

“Sr. Christine Otai is one of the fiercest and most incredible women I’ve ever met. She’s a real hero of development and has single-handedly saves thousands of premature babies” (says Madeline Vaughan, from Adara Development) The NMLTT congratulations Sr. Christine Otai for her outstanding leadership and for this lifetime achievement award. Ver well deserved.

In Other News

Dr Safina Museene, Commissioner for Health Education and Training and PS Dr Atwine and their teams monitor nursing schools after the 2nd reopening in Soroti to assess adherence to the Standard Operating Procedures for the prevention of Covid-19.

One of the key roles of the NMLTT is to create spaces for open dialog on critical issues impacting the nurses and midwives’ workforce in Uganda. These spaces allow us to think together, to critic together and to coconstruct solutions and strategies together. On November 29th, the NMLTT leaders held a dialogue with nurses and midwives to discuss issues affecting nurses over the past few weeks. These included concerns from Comprehensive Nurses regarding protentional policy changes that could have impact on their employability in the health sector, as well as emerging concerns regarding reported overcrowding during the upcountry registration process.