Miss Namibia 2022 is the Champion for the WHO Namibia’s 75th Anniversary

The anniversary allows for governments, WHO and partners to take stock of public health achievements, current and future challenges, and the need to collectively ensure that the most vulnerable and furthest behind have access to quality, essential health care services. 

Dr Charles Sagoe-Moses, immediate past WHO Representative announced WHO Namibia’s collaboration with the Miss Namibia Organization and welcomed Miss Namibia 2022, Cassia Sharpley as WHO Namibia 75th Anniversary Champion.  As Champion for the anniversary, Miss Namibia 2022 will raise awareness of public health successes and milestones over the past 75 years and 33 years specifically for Namibia. She will further mobilize and inspire people to accept WHO recommendations and messages to support behavior change for key life-saving health interventions.

Dr Sagoe-Moses reiterated successes in public health.  He said that life expectancy at birth has increased globally from 66.8 in 2000 to 73.3 in 2019.  He further applauded the eradication of the smallpox since 1980, following a 12-year ambitious vaccination campaign.  Similarly, wild poliovirus cases have decreased by over 99% since 1988, from an estimated 350 000 cases in more than 125 endemic countries to 6 reported cases in 2021. Of the 3 strains of wild poliovirus (type 1, type 2 and type 3), wild poliovirus type 2 was eradicated in 1999 and wild poliovirus type 3 was eradicated in 2020.   He commented Namibia for sustaining a polio free status since October 2008.

The declaration of the COVID-19 pandemic as no longer a public health emergency of international concern is a major achievement that gives credence to international collaboration and partnership and government-led multi-sectoral interventions at country level.

Miss Namibia 2022, Cassia Sharpley, in her acceptance speech, said that ‘in Namibia, WHO has been present for the past 33 years and serves as an essential and strategic partner with the Government of the Republic of Namibia (GRN) and other stakeholders to fulfil the mandate of improving health outcomes for all Namibians’. As Miss Namibia 2022, I have had the opportunity to represent the country in international platforms speaking on various topics. With my background in health, public health is one of my dear to my heart, she said.  Cassia is currently a student in the Emergency Medical Care program at the Namibia University of Science and Technology, said that her ‘goal is to use my influence as Miss Namibia and the title of being Champion to promote health across the nation to the best of my ability’.  She further said that ‘I will be executing this successfully through my influence and involvement as a practitioner and respectively as a student pursuing my bachelor’s degree as an Advanced Life Support Paramedic’.

Mrs. Umbi Karuaihe-Upi, Chief Executive Officer of Miss Namibia Organization congratulated Cassia Sharpley on her selection as WHO Namibia 75th Anniversary Champion.  She said that this ‘speaks to her own career in the health industry and to the purpose of the Miss Namibia organization that promotes a healthy lifestyle. ‘She is a dynamic, focused, and hardworking young woman who cares so much about people and their Health. She is influential and a respected role model in our society. Especially for the youth’, Mrs. Karuaihe-Upi concluded.

The media event also witnessed 3 long serving staff members sharing their stories on why they are #ProudtobeWHO.