Mohamed Hoosen Suleman at the WHO headquarters Photo Supplied
Mohamed Hoosen Suleman, a fourth-year medical student at the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN), represented South Africa on the global stage at the World Health Organisation (WHO).
He was one of three to be selected for a prestigious changemaker scholarship to attend both the Youth Pre-World Health Assembly (Pre-WHA) and World Health Assembly (WHA) held at the WHO Headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland.
Suleman said his mission was to represent the voice of the youth, adding that the two-week visit was a great learning experience.
“It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and it’s something that I will forever hold in high regard. I was part of the official youth delegation to the WHO to represent not only South Africa, or even the African continent, but the medical youth voice globally.”
“Spending two weeks in Geneva – at the WHO – I have certainly learnt a lot, My understanding of global health has broadened and to see how the debates are conducted in the global health arena was truly mesmerising,” he said.
The visit to the WHO, however, was not Suleman’s first. In 2019, he was invited to deliver a presentation on anti-microbial resistance thanks to an intervention he developed with a colleague.
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Voice of South African youth
On his visit, Suleman interacted with several key individuals and role-players in the global health arena. He stressed the importance of relaying the message of the youth to those in powerful positions.
Among those Suleman engaged with was the Director-General of WHO, Dr Tedros Ghebreyesus. He described this interaction as “interesting”.
“I had an interesting discussion with the director-general. I also met with our Minister of Health [Dr Joseph Phaahla]. I was thanking the director-general Dr Tedros for his leadership, and for his guidance in such a difficult time of the pandemic,” he said.
“There were many other Ministers of Health from other countries – Canada, Zimbabwe, the Central African Republic – and they truly appreciate that youth are here to be active in global health issues,” said Suleman.
Suleman emphasised that the army of young professionals needs to be introduced into the medical space because they have much to contribute.
“Youth play a very unique role and an important one. Youth are able to bring new ideas to the table because they are the future… they are the leaders of tomorrow, and they are the ones that will be managing the systems and the policies that we adopt and implement today,” he said.
“To involve youth now is to empower youth. How can you bring a different angle to existing problems to existing challenges in the system? It’s time that we include our youth who are the emerging young professionals so that when tomorrow comes and they have to take on these leadership roles, they are well accustomed to the system.”
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Accolades and achievements
It comes as no surprise that Suleman was entrusted with the responsibility to represent South Africa on the global stage. Last year, he won two awards in recognition of his work.
Suleman was awarded the UKZN ‘Best Student Innovator’ and ‘Best Student Researcher’ accolades by the university. “These awards,” he explained, “are granted to a student or an early career researcher who has distinguished him/herself in academic research and innovation.”
“I think it’s a culmination of the work that I’ve been involved in since I joined the MBChB curriculum in 2019,” he said.
“In 2019, I was invited to the WHO with a colleague to do a presentation on anti-microbial resistance. It’s an intervention that we had created and since then I’ve also been involved in numerous projects. Some of it is still ongoing with our academics and our scientists from UKZN.”
Suleman was also invited to address vaccine hesitancy when South Africa launched its COVID-19 vaccine programme last year.
