ABOUT THE MILLENNIUM FELLOWSHIP - CLASS OF 2021
United Nations Academic Impact and MCN are proud to partner on the Millennium Fellowship. In 2021, over 25,000 young leaders on 2,000+ campuses across 153 nations applied to join the Class of 2021. 136 campuses worldwide (just 6%) were selected to host the 2,000+ Millennium Fellows. The Class of 2021 is bold, innovative, and inclusive.
UNITED NATIONS ACADEMIC IMPACT AND MCN PROUDLY PRESENT GLADYS FARAI DOWI, A MILLENNIUM FELLOW AND CAMPUS DIRECTOR FOR THE CLASS OF 2021.
Lusaka Apex Medical University | Lusaka, Zambia | Advancing SDG 3 & UNAI 6
" I am excited to be a Millennium Fellow because of the chance l get to network with various people who have the same passions as l do. I know that l will get valuable leadership experience and l have the opportunity to put into action the passions that l have always had. "
Millennium Fellowship Project: Maternal ART and Neonatal Outcomes
This project aims to find out the relationship between the amount of time a HIV infected pregnant woman is on anti-retroviral therapy and the outcomes of the neonate. According to the World Health Organisation, mother to child transmission accounts for the vast majority of HIV infections in children and without treatment a pregnant woman has a likelihood of about 15-45% of the virus passing from mother to child(Avert.org,2020). The effects of timing of anti-retroviral therapy and the unborn baby has not been thoroughly assessed; and my project aims to find out if early detection and initiation of ART can confer a better outcome for the neonates both immunologically and virologically.
About the Millennium Fellow
Gladys Farai Dowi is a 25-year-old Final year medical student at Lusaka Apex Medical university. She was born in Lusaka, Zambia and grew up in Zimbabwe and South Africa but moved back to Zambia for her tertiary education.
Farai has always had a heart for Children and knew that her career would be affiliated with her passion. She hopes to specialize in Paediatrics in the near future. Since primary and high school, she has found herself in leadership positions. In High school, she was Vice President of the Representative council of learners (RCL) and volunteered in her spare time at Nazareth House for orphans and Vredehoek Library.
In her college years, Farai found herself associated with nonprofits and of particular note was the Leo club under the Lions club. She was the President of the organization at her university and under her leadership the group donated supplies to various organizations. She is currently working on a research that is focused on maternal and neonatal HIV infection that is in line with SDG 3. Farai hopes that moving forward she can impact her community positively and give back to the village that has raised her.
