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RCN president wins prestigious African Women of Excellence Award

Ghanaian-trained midwife Cecilia Anim is recognised for her health and social work

RCN president Cecilia Anim has travelled to New York to receive an African Women of Excellence Award.

Cecilia Anim

Presented during a banquet at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel, the gong, awarded by the United Nations, is in recognition of Ms Anim's work in the health sector and in social activism across Europe and Africa. The ceremony was hosted by the African Union and the Diaspora African Forum.

Ms Anim, who is a sexual health nurse at Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust (CNWL), said: ‘I feel so honoured and humbled by this because when you are nursing you think you are just doing a job, but it’s more than that. You are serving humanity and you are making a difference.’

The award celebrates and recognises the contribution African women, or women of African descent, have made to political, social and economic independence.

Ms Anim originally trained as a midwife in Ghana, where she worked before moving to the UK and qualifying as a nurse in 1977.

CNWL chief executive Claire Murdoch said: ‘Well done Cecilia, you really are a role model. You are an extremely dedicated and passionate nurse and the recognition is deserved.'