Dr Nyuma Mbewe is a specialist in Internal Medicine and Infectious Diseases (Mmed-ID). She has over 10 years of work experience in public health across national and district levels in Zambia, having obtained her master's from the University of Zambia, School of Medicine, here in Lusaka. Dr. Mbewe epitomizes the transformative journey of a clinician turned public health advocate, driven by a deep-rooted commitment to saving lives and addressing systemic health challenges. Her path from an internalist to her current role as a Case Management Specialist with the Zambia COVID-19 Health Systems Strengthening and Resiliency Project at the Zambia National Public Health Institute reflects a profound shift in perspective, catalyzed by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The pandemic served as a pivotal moment of realization, prompting her to reevaluate her approach from being a hospital-based physician managing individual patients with complicated cases, to instead embrace a broader public health perspective aimed at preventing the thousands of patients being afflicted by preventable diseases in the first place. Within a year at the public health institute, she was appointed as the National Coordinator of the Cholera Elimination program. And soon found herself at the helm of the largest cholera outbreak in our nation’s history with over 20000 cases and 650 deaths. She coordinates the National Cholera Taskforce involving over 50 NGOs and 5 Ministries, underscoring the urgency of navigating the complexities of responding to outbreaks such as cholera, and ensuring that response activities for this acute crisis extend beyond to long-term climate-resilient solutions. She still serves as an active member of the COVID-19 Taskforce, and as Case Management lead in the National Action Plan for Health Security Steering committee, she has taken the lessons learnt from COVID-19 to improve case management of other pathogens of pandemic potential.
