International Nurses Day 2025 - May 12, 2025
Spotlight on Sr. Maggie Mukuka: A Life of Service in Eye Health
This International Nurses Day, we’re celebrating the incredible impact nurses make around the world, showing up every day with care, dedication, and heart.
We’re proud to shine a spotlight on Sr. Maggie Mukuka, a trailblazing ophthalmic nurse from Zambia and one of our 2024 Professional Development Grant recipients.
Ophthalmic nurses are often the first friendly face a patient sees when seeking sight-saving care. Their contributions are essential to the provision of quality eye care, helping to make services easier to access, especially for people in communities where care has often been hard to come by. Sr. Maggie is a perfect example of that impact in action.
She has dedicated the last 26 years to saving sight across Zambia. Currently serving as the lead clinical ophthalmic nurse at Chilenje Level 1 Hospital in Lusaka, the capital, she coordinates eye care services offered both in the facility and through local outreach. Her leadership ensures that quality care reaches people, whether they’re in a hospital ward or in a hard-to-reach part of the community.
Since registering as an Ophthalmic Nurse in 2005, Sr. Maggie has carved a unique path in ophthalmic care. From her early days at the University Teaching Hospital to leading the establishment of a full eye care department at Chilenje Hospital, she has championed access, education, and excellence in every role she’s held. She is also a mentor to medical staff and students, a trainer of trainers in primary eye care, and a motivational speaker to emerging professionals in the field.
In 2024, with support from WLEH, Sr. Maggie attended the COECSA Congress in Zimbabwe, where she not only expanded her network and knowledge but also took the stage as a speaker, sharing insights from her extensive work in community eye care.
Sr. Maggie describes her experience speaking at the COECSA Congress as a transformative milestone in her career. The opportunity brought her a feature in the Community Eye Health Journal, elevating her profile as a clinical ophthalmic nurse on the global stage. She engaged with ophthalmologists, researchers, and fellow health professionals, gaining not only recognition but also access to new collaborations and avenues for professional advancement.
The process of preparing and delivering her presentation at COECSA sharpened her public speaking, research, and critical thinking skills. She noted that contributing to the advancement of ophthalmology in such a setting was deeply motivating and personally fulfilling. Her role as a featured speaker strengthened her professional profile and inspired fellow nurses and health workers to explore opportunities within the field of eye health.
Sr. Maggie emphasized that being on the speaker platform gave her more than visibility, it gave her a voice to advocate for ophthalmic nursing and the future of eye care. Her experience serves as a powerful example of how empowering nurses through leadership opportunities can create ripples of impact across the entire health system.
In addition, building on her COECSA experience, Sr. Maggie has now had an abstract successfully accepted for oral presentation at yet another international eye health conference: the 36th Pan American Congress of Ophthalmology, taking place in May 2025 in Bogotá, Colombia. Her presentation, which explores the attitudes, and practices of spectacle use among school-aged children, reflects her ongoing dedication to strengthening community eye health and empowering young people through improved vision care.
She is proof that when women in nursing are given the opportunity to grow, share, and lead, the ripple effect is felt across the entire health system.
Her story is exactly why WLEH is committed to supporting women in eye health, by creating more space for leadership, mentorship, and growth. Nurses like Sr. Maggie are central to creating stronger health systems that deliver quality care for all.