The United Nations Agency for Sexual and Reproductive Health, UNFPA, announced on Wednesday that the individual award will go to Professor Serigne Magueye Gueye of Senegal, while the institutional award will be presented to the Fondation Bonne Action Umugiraneza in Burundi.
The annual award recognizes outstanding contributions to breakthroughs that enhance reproductive health and address population growth-related challenges facing communities.
For decades, Professor Gueye has been doing it treated women living with obstetric fistula, a devastating but largely preventable birth injury which can leave survivors incontinent, isolated and rejected by their families and communities.
In addition to performing life-changing surgery, he has trained surgeons from more than 45 countries in sub-Saharan Africahelping to expand access to specialist care across the region.
Commitment to dignity
speaks to PakinomistProfessor Gueye said preventing new cases remains the biggest challenge. He called for stronger health systems and universal access to emergency obstetric care, including timely caesarean sections, saying these are essential if obstetric fistula is to be eliminated by 2030.
“Strengthening health systems in general, scaling up emergency obstetric care is for me the key to eliminating fistulahe said.
He also emphasized that the treatment does not end with surgery. Communities, he said, have a vital role in identifying women who often remain hidden due to societal stigma, supporting them through treatment and helping them rebuild their lives through social and economic reintegration.
Professor Gueye’s commitment extends beyond the operating room. To improve access to health care for underserved communities, he transformed his own home into the Aristide Mensah Health Center in Yeumbeul, on the outskirts of Dakar, and has long campaigned for greater awareness of obstetric fistula throughout West Africa.
Reflecting on receiving the award, he described it as recognition of the many people who had supported his work over the years, rather than an individual achievement.
“I don’t take it as personal recognition. For me it is collective work” he told Pakinomistadding that the honor encourages him to continue giving back to neglected and underserved communities.
He also had a message for young health professionals, urging them to develop their skills with humility and resilience as they reach beyond urban hospitals to serve remote populations where health services are often scarce.
Listen to the entire interview here:
At the ceremony at UN headquarters, Secretary-General António Guterres, in a message delivered by UNFPA Deputy Director-General Diene Keita, said demographic changes were reshaping the world and required a collective response, “especially as they affect progress towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals and implementing the Compact for the Future”.
“To achieve true demographic resilience, we must put the rights, dignity and well-being of all people at the center of our development efforts“, he said. “This is not only a matter of politics, but also a moral imperative”, Mr Guterres said in his message.
Congratulating the awardees, the Secretary-General praised Professor Gueye’s “clinical expertise and humanitarian dedication” and the Burundian Foundation’s work to improve maternal health and build local capacity.
Speaking at the ceremony, Professor Gueye said the award was “the recognition of the collective effort to make health the foundation of our society” and accepted it “on behalf of all those who believe that a truly resilient population is one that has health, autonomy and dignity”.
Professor Serigne Gueye, head of urology at the Grand Yoff General Hospital in Senegal, winner of the UN Population Award 2026.
Throughout his acceptance speech, Professor Gueye told the stories of women whose lives had been transformed through treatment, emphasizing that any operation represents much more than a surgical procedure. “Behind every operation there is a story,” he said, adding that the true measure of success is giving women “back their lives” and offering patients in neglected and remote communities a second chance to regain their health, dignity and livelihood.
Expanding access to health care in Burundi
Fondation Bonne Action Umugiraneza works to expand access to health care, education and social support for vulnerable women, children and families across Burundi. In 2022, it opened Polyclinique Umugiraneza in Gitega province, bringing specialist services including paediatrics, emergency care and fertility treatment closer to rural areas. The foundation also supports care for women living with obstetric fistula, life-saving surgery for children with congenital disorders and services for survivors of gender-based violence.
During the ceremony, Burundi’s first lady, Angeline Ndayishimiye, who heads the Bonne Action Umugiraneza Foundation, said receiving this recognition from the United Nations was “both a privilege and a responsibility.”
First Lady Angeline Ndayishimiye of Burundi, founder of Fondation Bonne Action Umugiraneza, speaks at the 2026 UN Population Prize.
“It inspires us to pursue our mission with even greater determination,” she added.
The UN Population Prize was established by the UN General Assembly in 1981 and honors individuals and institutions for outstanding contributions to population and reproductive health. This year is the 41st presentation of the award.
