I am proud of the woman I have become, a medical doctor. Because of this, it makes me happy that I am able to help so many people from different walks of life. I am also proud that I did not allow circumstances define my goals and aspirations. I am proud to be a changemaker in my community.
Meet Dr Mable Kipenda, medical doctor at Ndola Teaching Hospital in Zambia and co-founder of youth-led non-profit, Copper Rose Zambia.
Tell us about yourself, what do you do in health?
I am a medical doctor with a bachelor’s degree in Human biology and a bachelor’s degree in medicine and surgery from the University of Zambia. I am currently working and studying at the Specialty Training Program in the Department of Medicine at Ndola Teaching hospital in Zambia. I am also a co-founding partner serving as programs advisor for Copper Rose Zambia, a youth led not for profit organization which focuses on sexual and reproductive health and empowerment among women and adolescents.
Because of my passion and work around women and adolescent health, I was privileged to be selected as one of the 2019 Mandela Washington Fellows and I spent 6 weeks in the United States doing professional development under the leadership in public management track.
I was recently appointed as co-lead for Women’s Economic Imperative (WEI) health team for Sub Saharan Africa. In the hospital, I am a full-time clinician who provides clinical care to both in and outpatients. I recommend treatment and follow up plans for patients under my care every day.
What led you to pursue a career in health?
When I was growing up, I always wanted to help people, something I have so much passion about. I saw my grandmother, my mother and my Aunts help people around them most of the time using their skills with little or no resources, something they did with all their hearts. This tremendously ignited my passion to help the community. In my teenage years, I had decided to start helping people in whichever way I could, but this idea failed as I had nothing to offer people. Instead, I was the one that needed help. I could not afford so many things in life even basic needs like running water and electricity and most importantly basic education, a situation that clearly did not make sense to me. How was I going to offer help when I also needed help? In my thoughts, I discovered a way of turning tables around and this is how it could work. I needed a platform that I could use to help people in my community. To reach that platform, I needed a ladder and the ladder needed to have some support for stability, that platform was a career in medicine as a Medical Doctor. The ladder was my education and the ladder support were the people that helped me get there.
What are you most proud of?
I am proud of the woman I have become, a medical doctor. Because of this, it makes me happy that I am able to help so many people from different walks of life. I am also proud that I did not allow circumstances to define my goals and aspirations because I chased for opportunities. I worked so hard to get to where I am, and my journey has not been an easy one. I am proud to be a changemaker in my community.
I am also proud that I did not allow circumstances to define my goals and aspirations because I chased for opportunities.
What do you wish you had done differently?
I think I spent so much time in school and barely had a social life. If I would do it all over again, I guess I make some time to experience the world away from books and school.
What are some of the biggest challenges you have faced? How did you overcome them? What are some of the lessons learnt?
Academically, my biggest challenge was finances because I could not afford anything literally and I entirely depended on scholarships which made me pull through my academic journey. For most of it, I was sponsored by FAWEZA and the Republic of Zambia, opportunity that is very rare to come by in a lifetime. Professionally on several occasions, I have been stereotyped by both patients and colleagues clearly because I don’t fit a clear description of a ‘medical doctor’. This is something I have accepted, and it will not change anything about my goals and achievements.
What are some of the opportunities you see for women in health on the African continent?
I believe that the world is slowly opening up for women leaders in the health sector and this is one opportunity we as women should endeavour to achieve as we develop our networks. If a woman takes lead, the entire community gets to benefit.
When I was growing up, I always wanted to help people. - Dr Mable Kipenda ( @MableKipenda) Click To TweetWhat advice do you have for other women in health?
I would want to encourage women in health to continue working hard towards achieving quality healthcare. Most of the time, we tend to forget about ourselves because of the nature of the health sector, but one thing we should always remember is that we are humans too.
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