My name is Daphne Abange; I am 22 years old and I am from Mamfe, in Manyu Division of Cameroon. I double major in Nursing and Health Management and minor in French at Howard University and hope to further my career in Nursing Anesthesiology. My vision, passion and platform is to empower our girl scientists in Cameroon through funding and awarding scholarships for girls who excel in science and technology.
At the age of 10, I witnessed my father having multiple strokes and eventually passing away due to improper diagnosis and improper treatment. Loosing one of the most important figures in my life forced me to grow beyond my years and at that young age I decided that I would dedicate my being to bringing about the topic of change as a woman in science. I was inspired and curious as to which technology would’ve helped save my dad and if he were diagnosed correctly would he have still been alive today?
For instance; according to the Ministry of Higher Education in Cameron, there is a ratio of 1 doctor to 10,000 patients and 1/10 of one doctor is a woman. In essence, the need for doctors brings about work overload and therefore patients are more susceptible to misdiagnosis.
My vision to provide funding and scholarships to our Cameroonian girl scientists is not limited to just health science but is available to our girls who aspire to become future engineers, agricultural scientist, marine biologist, gynecologist, researches etc. and science in general. I live by the adage, “give a man a fish and he will eat for a day, but teach a man how to fish and he will eat for a life time” in this case, empowering our Cameroonian girls to lead in science will bring forth growth and change.