20 villages ✓ screened

Personal website

Zephaniah Ayuah

Kidney disease awareness in northern Ghana — community screening, research, and children’s books.

Bongo, Ghana St. Thomas Aquinas SHS ’23 Head Boy
Zephaniah Winsakiya Ayuah
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01 / What I have actually done

The work

Nonprofit

Chronic Matters

Co-founder

Free annual chronic-disease screening with three partner clinics across 20 villages.

62CKD cases found · $7k raised

Research

Kidney CT AI bias

Sci–MI · supervised by Will Jardee, Montana State University

Trained a CNN to detect kidney disease, then measured what happens when the scans come from somewhere else.

43%accuracy drop on a different geographic populace

Research

Diet & CKD risk

Research intern · University for Development Studies

High-sodium diets and herbal drugs as kidney disease risks. Findings redrawn as cartoons.

40food vendors trained · 12 schools

Books

The Kidney Bean

Co-author & illustrator · with What Nadia Eats

Chronic kidney disease explained to children who have never heard the words.

32schools reached

Clinic

Korle Bu

Student clinical intern · Urology & Nephrology Centre of Excellence

Shadowed dialysis, then wrote the patient cards the ward was missing.

48families enrolled in insurance

Policy

Youth Parliament

Chair, Health Committee · 1 of 21 nationally

Four policy recommendations drafted. The insurance review for chronic disease was adopted.

6school sickbays renovated

Founded

Aquinas Cheer

Founder · Ghana’s first all-male high-school cheer squad

Built for boys who had nowhere to be seen. Six other schools copied it.

50+members · 21 living with chronic illness

Design

Solar dialysis

Research lead · Science Innovation Club

Catalogued why medical devices fail in rural wards, then designed around the power cuts.

62device failures analysed · 40% less projected downtime

Debate

Health policy debate

Captain · Aquinas Writers & Debaters Club

Health policy, mental health, gender rights. Fifteen junior debaters mentored.

3national titles · 4 regional

02 / Verifiable

By the number

20,846CT scans in the AI study
62kidney disease cases identified by screening
32schools holding the books
50+cheerleaders trained

03 / Pictures

In frame

Chronic Matters
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Chronic Matters
Zephaniah as Head Boy of St. Thomas Aquinas SHS
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Head Boy
Presenting the kidney CT study at the Sci-MI symposium
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Sci–MI symposium
A Chronic Matters screening day
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Screening day
Chronic Matters village outreach
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Village outreach
The Kidney Bean and What Nadia Eats
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The Kidney Bean · What Nadia Eats
Health education cartoons drawn for schools
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Health cartoons
National Youth Parliament Health Committee
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National Youth Parliament
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Debate
Solar-powered dialysis prototype
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Solar dialysis prototype
Gurene drumming
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Gurene drumming
Running a marathon
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Marathon
Aquinas Cheer Club
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Cheerleading
Kidney CT study — research poster
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Kidney CT study
Science Mentorship Institute certificate
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Sci–MI certificate

More

Sonofumbele on TikTok ↗ LinkedIn ↗ 300k+ likes · 50+ posts

04 / Recognition

Honours

Richard Bright Best Renal Research AwardAfrica Health Sovereignty Summit
Most Eloquent SpeakerAfrica Health Sovereignty Summit
Silver Medal, International Science OlympiadTop 1% of 3,000+ across Africa
Silver Medal, International Geography OlympiadInternational
Impact AwardInternational Public Health Conference
20 Under 20 AuthorsGhana Library Authority
MISE Innovation in Health Solutions AwardNational
Young Advocate AwardAfrican Young Leaders Foundation
Head of State AwardHead of State Award Scheme, Ghana
LaDMA Excellence AwardGhanaian Times
Ghana Cultural Day DebateWinner
Easter Cup TournamentWinner
Teacher’s Choice Award ×3St. Thomas Aquinas SHS

Seen in

Kai Zen Magazine, Switzerland Nubuke Foundation for Contemporary Art Ghanaian Times Wear Ghana campaign