​A third-year Environmental Health student from the University of Johannesburg (UJ) is flying the ‘Orange’ flag high for UJ in recognition for her contribution to ensure a clean and safe environment.

“I’m delighted to receive this award and hope to continue making a difference in the field of Environmental Health,” said Nyasha Ntenje upon winning best performing student in Environmental Health in South Africa.

Ntenje collaborated with the Department of Environmental Health staff on a review paper titled ‘Water- Energy- Food Nexus.’ The abstract and the paper was accepted at the International Association Impact Assessment South Africa (IAIA) Conference in 2017. She attended the conference and presented the paper in September 2017 in Cape Town and was the only student to present at the conference.

She also joined forces with the Johannesburg Mayor’s initiative of cleaning the city every end of the month called ‘A RE SEBETSENG.’ This campaign encourages the community not to litter and tries to show the community the kind of city we can live in if we keep it clean.

Ms Ntenje was also part of the SIHE committee as the Secretary General for 2016 and 2017. “During my time with the committee we planned several events such as Water Week and the Mentorship Program. We collaborated with Environmental Health Practitioners (EHPs) in the field and acted as a bridge between the students and the professionals,” she explained.

Ms Ntenje was recognised for her academic excellence and participation in Faculty, Department and overall University activities from 2016 to date.

She won the following awards in her first year in 2016: First Year Top Achiever for Chemistry and First Year Overall Academic Achiever for 2016. She also qualified to be part of the Ujenius Club in 2017.

The Alfred Nzo Environmental Health Excellence Awards are dedicated to the recognition of the hard work and extraordinary effort by environmental health workers, students and academics who have portrayed excellence in the environmental health discipline, despite the difficult conditions they face. The awards were introduced in 2002 as part of the Minister of Health’s Excellence in Healthcare Awards and have since been held annually as part of the commemoration of the World Environmental Health Day.