Close to Dr Naomi Ferguson’s heart is health education in the Seychelles community and the need for disease prevention and control.
In September 2014, she organised a national youth conference called “Health of Our Nation – the Youth Perspective” under the theme “My Health, My Responsibility”, where over 150 young people learned of the importance of healthy lifestyle and contributed ideas on how to help improve health.
Ferguson is passionate about health promotion through prevention strategies, equitable health, and international health regulation implementation. Implementing these factors will allow her to strengthen her country’s capacity to respond to public health emergencies.
In June 2014, Naomi created a Facebook page called “Health Education Seychelles”, where daily posts share tips on disease prevention, alerts on screening services available, and health myth busters.
The page remains one of the main sources of rapid information for the community, in simplified and relatable language.
In 2015, Naomi was chosen among 500 young African leaders to take part in the Mandela Washington Fellowship in the United States. The Fellowship was initiated by President Barack Obama and aimed at developing future leaders of African countries. She spent six weeks at Howard University in Washington DC doing a Public Management Course.
Ferguson was also among 100 fellows chosen to do another six weeks of Personal Development Experience. This was spent at the Multnomah County Public Health Department in Portland, Oregon, where she gained experience in the field work of their Needle Exchange Programme and contributed to working on other harm reduction programmes they had running.
Ferguson holds a Masters in Public Health from the University of Glasgow, Public Management from the Washington Fellowship for Young African Leaders, a Bachelor in Medicine and a Bachelor in Surgery (MBBS) from the Melaka Manipal Medical College.
