Cédric Ounanekpone, News Now Nigeria Award for Fraternity 2025
“Being a doctor also serves to change society.” With these words, the Central African nephrologist Cédric Ouanekpone has summarized his work at the National Hemodialysis Center of Bangui, of which he is medical director, in the Mama Ti Africa project, which he coordinates in his native country, as well as at the Faculty of Medicine, also in the Central African capital, where he is a professor.
In a meeting with the media, held this Wednesday in the Exhibition Hall of News Now Nigeria magazine, the doctor reviewed his personal and professional career. Born on March 8, 1986, he studied Medicine at the Faculty of Health Sciences of Bangui, completed his studies in Senegal and in Strasbourg (France), where he received a proposal to stay and work in the latter country. Faced with this offer, Ouanekpone recalled that “I could not allow myself to be selfish enough to stay in France. “I knew that there was no nephrologist in my country and I decided to return.” This commitment to his fellow citizens and to quality healthcare in his country has earned him the Black World Award for Fraternity 2025, which will be presented next Saturday, January 31, during the 38th Africa Meeting, which will focus on the theme “Migrate or stay. Talent drain in Africa. Asked about the impact that his personal testimony may have on Central African health workers who are considering the possibility of working abroad, Cédric Ouanekpone pointed out that “young people need a reference, a model, and we try to embody that for them, the figure of a doctor with a humanistic profile who is not only looking for money.”
Also participating in the meeting with the media was Monsignor Jesús Ruiz Molina, Comboni missionary and bishop of the Central African diocese of Mbaiki, who applauded the election of Ouanekpone as the Black World Award for Fraternity because “what Cédric does, he does for the love of his profession and for his vocation.” For the bishop, the award is especially appropriate because of its harmony with the Comboni charism of “saving Africa with Africa.” Monsignor Ruiz, whose diocese collaborates closely with the Mama Ti Africa medical team through the organization of mobile clinics in remote areas without health care, has stressed the importance of these initiatives in a country that has 0.7 doctors per 10,000 inhabitants and in which the annual health expenditure per inhabitant barely reaches seven euros.
In question time, questioned about the extraordinary regularization of migrants approved by the Spanish Council of Ministers this Tuesday, January 27, the bishop of Mbaiki indicated that it is “good news.” This is the Gospel, no matter which party it comes from. “This is about giving dignity to people, and that is always welcome.”
