Phillip Andrew Mwebaza

My first classroom wasn't a university. It was beside my mother.

Phillip grew up watching his mother, a nurse, care for prisoners and underserved communities. Her work showed him that health knowledge matters most when it reaches people in a form they can trust and use.

Communication became that voice. His work has moved from media and training into health literacy, risk communication, policy development and advocacy, digital learning, youth engagement and serious-game design.

His professional training includes CDC courses in Health Literacy for Public Health Professionals and Fundamentals of Communicating Health Risks, alongside University of Washington training in Policy Development and Advocacy for Global Health.

Health information should give people a voice in their own lives.

Phillip’s work is driven by a practical question: what changes when people can understand health information, question it and use it? Through AFHEG, he brings together digital learning, serious games, peer communication and community engagement to create more ways for young people to participate.

Smarty Health Info Hub offers learning beyond a single session. Super Bugs Clash creates space to practise decisions and discuss their consequences. Health Defenders supports young people to become communicators in their own communities. Together, these approaches reflect his conviction that health communication should be useful in everyday life.

The organisation’s early work relied on personal savings and support from family, volunteers and close collaborators. That experience continues to shape his interest in practical tools that communities can use and institutions can adapt.

Make the health problem something people can decide inside.

Super Bugs Clash translates antimicrobial resistance and One Health into choices, consequences and facilitated discussion. The implementation record covers 200 documented sessions and 1,200 active player participations.

Phillip's public health communication series extends the same principle into short-form video: explain the issue clearly, connect it to a real decision and give people something practical to carry forward.

Communication is part of preparedness.

Phillip's work increasingly connects health communication with global health security, preparedness and policy influence. In 2026 he was selected for the One Health Leadership Fellowship through Tufts University Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine. His placement, hosted by the IGAD Centre of Excellence for Nutrition in Nairobi, connects this learning with regional communication and advocacy planning for the PREPARE project.

Selected recognition attached to AFHEG's work includes HundrED Global Collection 2026 for Smarty Health Info Hub, the Tony Elumelu Foundation Entrepreneurship Programme, Best Media Innovation at the Media Challenge Awards 2024 and First Runner-Up for Media Excellence in Health at the Heroes in Health Awards 2024.

His wider interest is how community experience can inform preparedness and policy, and how public institutions can make information easier to understand, discuss and act on.

Bring a health communication question to the table.

For speaking, facilitation and collaboration on health literacy, serious games, risk communication and youth engagement, contact AFHEG Foundation.