Philista Prudence Minjal Onyango is regional director and founding member of the African Network for the Prevention and Protection against Child Abuse and Neglect (ANPPCAN). A graduate of Haile Selassie University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Dr. Onyango received her masters and doctorate degrees from the University of Nairobi, Kenya, where she lectured until 1996.
Dr. Onyango is currently a member of Kenya’s National Council for Children Services and was a member of the Executive Council of the International Society for the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect (ISPCAN) from 1992-2004. She also was a member of the Executive Council of Global March Against Child Labour (1998 – 2005), the Executive Board of Childwatch International ((1993 – 1995), the Advisory Group on Child Rights for UNICEF International Development Centre in Florence, Italy, and the WHO Task Force on Adolescent Health, among others. A member of numerous regional and national organizations over the course of her career, she currently serves on Kenya’s National Steering Committee on Child Labour.
A child advocate, Dr. Onyango joined other concerned experts in 1986 to form ANPPCAN, which currently has 21 chapters on the continent. Two years later, Dr. Onyango was working with the Organization of African Unity (OAU) to develop the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child, which was adopted by the 26th Ordinary Session of the Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the OAU in July 1990, in Addis Ababa.
Among the many awards Dr. Onyango has received are the Chancellor’s Gold Medal, the highest academic award from former Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie, and the Professor Henry Kempe Award (1988) for outstanding work on child abuse and neglect.
As an advisor and consultant, Dr. Onyango has lent her expertise to the Rockefeller Foundation Health Equity Programme Review Team on Enhancing Health Knowledge in Primary Schools (2000) and the Review Teams for World Health Organization’s Report on Violence and Health and the Governments of Kenya and Finland Joint Preparation Mission on Health Sector in Kenya.
Dr. Onyango has authored or co-authored numerous book chapters and articles, including chapters in An International Movement to End Child Abuse: The Story of ISPCAN and Combating Child Labour.
Dr. Onyango’s motto: “Children do not apply to be born.”
ISPCAN is proud to call Dr. Philista Onyango a member.
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