2025 UHC Day Champion
Josephine Majani Ongweni
Housewife and UHC advocate, Kenya
Browse other champions
- Countries driving UHC progress
- Dr. Ricardo Baptista Leite, Founder and President of UNITE - Parliamentarian’s Network for Global Health
- Dr. Viroj Tangcharoensathien, Vice Chair and Senior Advisor, International Health Policy Program Foundation, Thailand
- Solange Mbaye, Regional Programme Manager for Amref Health Africa, Senegal
- Levy Mkandawire, Programme Manager for Amref Health Africa, Zambia
- Concepta Kwaleyela, President of the Midwives Association of Zambia
- Professor Anne Beatrice Kihara, Former President of the International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics, Kenya
- Hester Mkwinda Nyasulu, Country Manager for Amref, Malawi
- Habibou Ouedraogo, Health Economist, Ministry of Health, Burkina Faso
- Hon. Hyun-Young Shin, Congresswoman, 21st National Assembly of Republic of Korea
No woman should suffer abuse in the moment she most needs care. My experience showed me what happens when dignity is denied — and why universal health coverage must protect every woman’s right to safe, respectful maternity services. I spoke out so that no mother in Kenya ever has to endure what I did.
When Josephine Majani arrived at Bungoma County Hospital, all she expected was the safe delivery of her baby. But the hospital staff forced Josephine to pay for the (free) medicine she needed to induce labor and then left her to deliver on her own. She collapsed and gave birth on the concrete floor as nurses repeatedly slapped and verbally abused her, forcing her to clean up her own placenta as punishment for “dirtying” the floor.
Her determination to prevent this from happening to others led her to file a legal case through the Center for Reproductive Rights to affirm the right of all Kenyans to affordable, quality maternal care as part of UHC. She won this case in 2018, and it was affirmed in 2024 by the Court of Appeal. Josephine’s courage to improve Kenyans’ sexual and reproductive rights within UHC makes her a champion for maternal health within UHC.
