Publish date: 16 January 2025
Justine Nakimuli, Freedom to Speak Up Guardian and Cultural Sensitivity Lead recently returned to her home country of Uganda alongside nurses from Northamptonshire and West London NHS Trusts. Justine is also the President of the Uganda Nurses’ Association and last year hosted a visit by the Ugandan Chief Nursing Officer, Agnes Baku, to Mersey Care to meet our staff and visit some of our services.
Uganda remains stigmatised by mental illness, with a reluctance from people to talk openly about their mental health and recent statistics highlight its prevalence is increasing massively, particularly around the more common mental health conditions such as depression and anxiety. The Ugandan Government continues to look for support from experienced diaspora nurses, doctors and allied professions to support health promotion, prevention and treatment pathways.
Together the nurses set themselves a challenge and successfully ran 335km (more than 200 miles) in seven days whilst delivering Mental Health Awareness sessions in the local schools, hospitals and universities.
Their combined efforts have made a huge impact, and they were also joined by Ugandan Police and the Ministry of Health leadership team. Justine was proud to show case her skills, knowledge and achievements as part of her 22 year long NHS career. Well done, Justine! (Link to photo, Justine pictured centre)