Celebrating Women Making a Difference in Global Health - International Women's Day 2025

Khady Gueye

Khady is a remarkable leader in the fight against HIV. She works for the Ministry of Health while also holding important positions in NGOs such as the Alliance Nationale des Communautés pour la Santé (ANCS).

What specific contributions or strengths do they bring to your collaboration?

Khady is a mother to vulnerable populations, always present to support those in need. Single-handedly, she is saving lives. Her dedication and courage make her an essential force for justice and equality.

What impact has the work had in their field of research?

Khady Gueye is the best women’s leader and an inspiring example as both an activist and a political leader. She is actively involved in politics and serves as the Maire of Pikine district in Dakar. I sincerely hope she becomes a députée and succeeds in changing laws that discriminate against female sex workers and men who have sex with men.

Khady was nominated by Aurelia Lepine. 

Sonora English

Sonora conducts research on racism, climate change and health. Her diverse work ranges from coordinating youth engagement across multiple international youth advisory boards to fostering positive relationships with partners across four countries in the Envisioning Environmental Equity initiative. She has worked across several disciplines: laws, public policy, anthropology and global health. Sonora also supports creative engagement with young people on climate change, racism and health. Outside of her research, she also has experience as a community organiser in the UK Youth Climate Coalition. 

What specific contributions or strengths do they bring to your collaboration?

Sonora is an inspiring woman in Global Health making a difference by driving forward the fight for structural change to achieve health equity. Being incredibly considerate and critical in her approach to global health, she steers work as a young leader and team player. 

What impact has the work had in their field of research? 

She is making a difference through her warm, compassionate nature combined with her knowledge, masterful communication skills and ability to solve problems. Sonora has published several times in high impact journals, advancing the field of climate change, racism and health. Her youth engagement work has helped inform novel research and recommendations for tackling the impact of racism on child health.

Can you share a brief anecdote that you would like to highlight in their profile?

You can often find Sonora sporting beautiful handmade jumpers. This is because Sonora is a keen knitter, or at least she used to be before she had to take a pause due to repetitive strain injury from all the knitting!

Dr Josephine Birungi

Dr. Birungi is a Medical Doctor and research scientist who co-ordinated a major trial of integrated management of chronic conditions (HIV, diabetes and hypertension) in 17 primary health care facilities (INTE-AFRICA trial) in Uganda.

What specific contributions or strengths do they bring to your collaboration? 

As a scientist, she has excelled in community and stakeholder engagement for HIV/NCD research involving patient/participants, civil society, policy makers and parliamentarians in her country. She has thrived in a male-dominated field and hierarchical setting and successfully implemented the trial in a very difficult time of COVID-19 pandemic. She does this alongside her roles as a mother with a young family.

What impact has the work had in their field of research?

The work implemented by Dr. Birungi and others has been cited and informed the development of policy on HIV self-testing and national HIV care guidelines in Uganda. She has organized several meetings to disseminate results to policymakers at the Ministry of Health and other relevant Ministries, and published over 50 peer-reviewed journal articles with the most recent in the Lancet. She is an international visiting lecturer and makes presentations at universities, research conferences in addition to mentoring upcoming researchers.

Dr Faith Aikaeli

Faith has co-ordinated a major trial of integrated management of chronic conditions.

What specific contributions or strengths do they bring to your collaboration? 

She works in very difficult and complex countries, hit hard by COVID-19 and other challenges with no effect on quality, follow-up and results thanks to her. She is working and thriving in a male dominated field and hierarchical setting and with men with big egos; both with young families.

What impact has the work had in their field of research?

Dr Faith Aikaeli has demonstrated exceptional leadership as an early career researcher by coordinating a large, complex multi-country cluster randomizes trial in community-based settings for patients with chronic conditions. Despite the inherent challenges and external disruptions such as the COVID-19 pandemic, structural leadership changes, and administrative hurdles, she successfully led a multidisciplinary team to achieve high follow-up rates and seamless data collection. By coordinating complementary social sciences, process, and economic evaluation studies alongside the main trial, she ensured a comprehensive assessment of the intervention. Her proactive strategies maintained team morale and strong community engagement, creating a supportive environment that safeguarded patient care, and setting a robust foundation for future policy and practice transformation based on the trial’s eventual outcomes.

Can you share a brief anecdote that you would like to highlight?

One anecdote that stands out is how, amidst significant administrative disruptions and the challenges of juggling multiple roles – as a dedicated wife and mother to two young children and a new PhD candidate – Dr Aikaeli managed to steer the trial through tough times. Despite the pressures of coordinating a large, multi-country study and leading a multidisciplinary team, she met every challenge head on, ensuring that both patients and the research team received the support they needed. Her ability to balance these demanding responsibilities while maintaining high morale and data integrity is a testament to her exceptional leadership and resilience.