ABOUT THE MILLENNIUM FELLOWSHIP - CLASS OF 2025
United Nations Academic Impact and MCN are proud to partner on the Millennium Fellowship. This year, 60,000+ young leaders applied to join the Class of 2025 on 7,000+ campuses across 170 nations. 290+ campuses worldwide (less than 5%) were selected to host the 4,500+ Millennium Fellows.
UNITED NATIONS ACADEMIC IMPACT AND MCN PROUDLY PRESENT PRANITA GURUNG, A MILLENNIUM FELLOW FOR THE CLASS OF 2025.
Kathmandu University | Dhulikhel, Nepal | Advancing SDG 3, SDG 4, SDG 10 & UNAI 3
" I'm excited to be a Millennium Fellow because it allows me an opportunity to learn and grow, building skills and networks that I can carry forward wherever I go in the future and to turn ideas into action, raise health awareness, and collaborate with like minded peers from across the globe to create an impact. While I may not be in a position to change health laws to make health equitable , I believe that even as a student I CAN make a meaningful difference. "
Millennium Fellowship Project: PROJECT Aparaajit
Project: APAARAAJIT is a vital epilepsy awareness and anti-stigma project dedicated to transforming the socio-cultural perspective for individuals living with epilepsy in the Duwakot area. Our core mission is to replace generations of fear and misunderstanding with factual knowledge and essential supportive skills, starting with the local youth.
Phase I: The Awareness session at Ganesh School
Our initiative begins with a strategic focus on students in Grades 8, 9, and 10 at Ganesh School in Duwakot. This high-impact age group is where social attitudes are formed. I structured the sessions to be highly comprehensive, moving well beyond simple definitions of epilepsy to actively busting common myths. We successfully tackled the specific, damaging belief prevalent in the Nepali community that epilepsy was the result of deities, spiritual issues, or curses. This dangerous misbelief often caused people to avoid seeking proper medical care. Crucially, we trained the students in Seizure First Aid, ensuring that they became confident kids who knew the correct steps to take. We empowered them to understand that they held the power to change how their peers were treated.around 50 students from grade 8 ,9 and 10 were educated making 150 total students who attended the 2 hour session that we conducted Phase II: Community Mobilization
As we had correctly identified, the worst impact of these cultural beliefs was isolation. When people believed epilepsy to be a spiritual issue, they often isolated and shunned the affected individual, rather than providing the support they desperately needed. Our awareness sessions directly confronted this tragic isolation by emphasizing that epilepsy is a treatable neurological condition, not a social taboo. We successfully fostered a community environment where the reflex action became compassion and medical support , ensuring that people with epilepsy were integrated, respected. Around 46 families were educated with door to door approach where we divided ourselves into group of 2 each And went door to door for the awareness session .
About the Millennium Fellow
Pranita Gurung is a compassionate 3rd-year medical student at Kathmandu Medical College (affiliated with Kathmandu University) known for her leadership, curiosity, and commitment to social impact. As CR of the 25th MBBS batch (2022 intake) and PPF Coordinator for Rota year 24/25 (now Special Area Project Director for 25/26) at the Rotaract Club of KMC, she has led fundraising events like Acoustic Night and Garba Night. She has organized and participated in community programs, including stress management workshops, NCD, dengue and menstrual health awareness, and an ongoing epilepsy awareness project. Outside studies, she is passionate about mental health, child health, psychology, and equitable healthcare.
