Abigail Ashley

Abigail Ashley is a Ghanaian broadcaster and health campaigner with the Despite Media Group. She hosts the health programme My Health, My Life on UTV and Mo Ho Y3 on Okay FM, and she uses her own long fight with kidney disease to push Ghanaians to take their health seriously.

Five years to live

In August 2007, when she was 27, doctors diagnosed her with stage four chronic kidney disease and told her she might have five years left. She has spoken openly about that period: her wedding plans were called off, her mother cried constantly, and she travelled to India expecting a transplant. In a 2017 interview she said the doctors there found her healthier than her records suggested, and she chose to manage the illness through diet, exercise and prayer.

Broadcasting

She began at UTV behind the camera, producing the health segment of the morning show Adekye Nsroma, before getting her own show. My Health, My Life brings doctors and patients into the studio to talk through common conditions, and on Okay FM she presents Mo Ho Y3 in Twi.

Behind My Smiles

Her book Behind My Smiles tells the story of her illness, and she leads the Behind My Smiles Foundation, a nonprofit that runs kidney health education. She also recorded a gospel song, "Aseda Ndwom", with TMI in 2022, and in July 2023 she graduated from GH Fashion School as valedictorian with four awards.

Recognition

She won the Health Legends award three years in a row from 2016 to 2018 and was named among the 50 Young Most Influential People in Ghana in 2017. In November 2019 she received a humanitarian award at the 3G Awards in New York, and in 2020 she was named Social Media Health Advocate of the Year. On 29 October 2026 she won TV Health Advocacy Personality of the Year at the 14th African Health CEOs and Health Legends Awards. "Honestly, I never imagined I would live to hold this award again," she wrote, dedicating it to the late Rev Mrs Grace Addo.