By Yunus S Saliu
For his honesty, sincerity, faithfulness, and hard work, Modou Njai, the former Director of Health Promotion at the Ministry of Health has been awarded a prestigious award – Man of The Year 2023 by the Jabbi Fang Ndema Foundation based in Helsinki Finland.
This was released to the general public domain by Sainey Jabbi, the Chief Executive Officer of Jabbi Fang Ndema Foundation who is also the chairman of Conflict Resolution Foundation and Zoom TV Africa.
Jabbi Fang Ndema Foundation is a non-profit organization that strives to improve the quality of care in The Gambia and also improve the technology of the healthcare sector and also encourages investors to come to The Gambia and assist with modern technology in hospitals.
In a brief telephone conversation with Mr. Jabbi, a professional registered nurse at the City of Vantaa, described Mr. Modou Njai, former Director of Health Promotion at the Ministry of Health The Gambia, currently on international appointment working with Africa CDC based in Abuja Nigeria, as honest, trustworthy civil servant that he has ever worked with to improve the quality of leadership and healthcare system in The Gambia.
He said Mr. Modou Njai was awarded based on his vase achievement, hard work, and sincerity while reading his citation before the scheduled date on which the award will be given to him (Modou Njai) in The Gambia, in brief, he said “Join me to congratulate Mr. Modou Njai and thank him for his services.”
However, in summary, Mr. Modou Njai is a Gambian who worked for the Ministry of Health of The Gambia from 1993 to 2022. Before joining Africa CDC, he was the Director of Health Promotion and Education at the Ministry of Health and he served in this position from 2012 to 2022.
During this period Mr. Njai established the Directorate of Health Promotion and Education with the required human resources at both national and regional levels, he also doubled as the Spokesperson from 2012 to 2022 and he played a significant role in raising awareness during the Ebola outbreak in West Africa and the COVID-19 Preparedness and Response in the country. Under his leadership a lot of projects and programs in the areas of Social and Behaviour Change Communication, promotion of water and sanitation behaviors, Non-communicable disease prevention and control, and nutrition programs within the Ministry of Health. He served as the Chairperson of the National Tobacco Control Committee and he has played a significant role in fighting tobacco consumption in collaboration with stakeholders across the country.
Before the position of Director of Health Promotion and Education, Mr Njai worked at the Ministry of Health as a Programme Coordinator for the Integrated Management of Neonatal and Childhood Illnesses program from 2007 to 2012. He also served as the Nutrition Coordinator at the Ministry of Health in the year 2005 and as well as a Health Education Officer from the year 2000 to 2004. During this period Mr Njai was involved in the training of community drama groups and traditional communicators for health message dissemination across the length and breadth of the country. Mr Njai is a household name across the country.
At the international level, Mr Njai has been a steering committee member of the Public Health Risk Communication and Community Engagement Community of Practice in Africa (PH-RCCECoPA) representing West Africa from 2021 to 2023. He has also as a steering committee member and governing board member on Tobacco Control at the Centre for Tobacco Control in Africa at Makerere University in Kampala, Uganda. Mr. Njai has been coordinating several projects for Africa CDC before joining the organisation in November 2022.
You can read the full citation of Mr. Modou Njai in our subsequent edition when the award is presented to him in The Gambia.