Ugandan nurse Agnes Nambozo has caught the eye of American businessman and philanthropist Bill Gates.
Agnes Nambozo and her work were the subject of Bill Gates article on his Gates Notes blog. Titled ‘This heroic nurse climbs 1000-foot ladders to save lives,’ the article sheds light on the work of Nambozo in hard-to-reach areas.
Nambozo, notes Gates, climbs a “rickety ladder that is nearly 1,000 feet tall—or 300 meters—before she can start work for the day,” painting a picture of how difficult it is for Nambozo to access her workplace.
“The ladders are risky because you might miss a step,” Nambozo told Gates Notes. “If you are lucky, you can get a fracture. If you’re not lucky, you can lose your life.”
As someone who had dreamt of becoming a police officer but was talked out of the profession because of its risks, Nambozo has found a fair share of the same risks in nursing work in mountainous far-flung areas.
Yet, as she told Gates Notes, she loves her job and says nothing will stop her.
“Our motto for nurses in Uganda is ‘To love and serve.’ And to me, love is not just a word. It’s a verb,” she said.
“My dream is to make people feel good, to make them happy, and to give my service to the people. When you have positivity, nothing is impossible.”
Now pursuing a nursing degree with support from Rotary Club of Kampala, Agnes Nambozo, who works in Buluganya in the shadow of Mount Elgon of eastern Uganda, hopes to gain more skills and knowledge to serve and love her patients.
For now, Bill Gates credits the work of nurses like Agnes Nambozo and vaccination drives for Uganda’s “amazing job” in cutting infant childhood deaths.
“Uganda has done an amazing job of reducing childhood mortality over the last 25 years. In 2000, about 145 children died per every thousand live births,” notes Gates.
“By 2023, that figure had dropped to fewer than 40 deaths per 1,000 births. A lot of that progress can be attributed to vaccines and vaccinators like Agnes.”
More on this Gates Notes story Here.
You can see the 2025-2026 salary structure showing how much nurses and other government employees earn every month Here.
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