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When Dinah Sevilla’s younger brother was born with Down syndrome, she made a quiet promise to understand illness to protect the people she loved. Two decades later, that promise helped her earn a place among the world’s top ten nurses.

On Tuesday, it was announced that Dinah, head nurse for Peritoneal Dialysis (PD) at King Saud University Medical City in Riyadh, was among 10 shortlisted candidates for the prestigious Aster Guardians Global Nursing Award 2026. The grand prize is approximately Dh900,000.

She was selected from over 134,000 applicants across 214 countries for a simple but transformative innovation: pictorial guides, demonstration videos, and individualised training sessions that help kidney patients perform home-based dialysis safely.

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Significant results

PD is a home-based life-saving treatment for kidney failure but carries a serious risk of peritonitis, a dangerous infection. Language barriers and complex instructions often cause mistakes. That is why Dinah designed a simple, easy-to-follow set of educational tools. The tool was tested and approved to ensure patients in Saudi Arabia feel respected and understood.

Dinah Sevilla

The results speak for themselves. Under her leadership, patients developed peritonitis only 0.07 per cent of the time – nearly six times better than the global benchmark of 0.40 per cent. Her unit also recorded zero medication errors, falls, or catheter-related complications. Patient satisfaction scores remain high.

Originally from the Philippines, Dinah said her brother’s condition first inspired her to pursue nursing. She moved to Saudi Arabia in 2011, starting as a staff nurse before rising to head nurse. During the pandemic, she served as acting head nurse for the Covid-19 isolation unit.

Life is still beautiful

Dinah’s care goes beyond teaching materials. She ensures her patients have 24-hour support, even at home, through a monitoring platform that tracks their condition. She coordinates closely with a full team – nephrologists, social workers, nutritionists, and infection control specialists – to catch problems before they become emergencies.

“My objective is to empower patients with hope, dignity and confidence,” she said. “To prove that life, even if you are sick, is still beautiful and meaningful.”

If she wins the award, she plans to support underprivileged kidney patients and make treatment affordable to everyone. “This comes with responsibility,” she said. “I want every patient to know that life remains meaningful.”

The winner will be announced in India in July 2026. For now, Dinah remains quietly astonished. “I’m speechless,” she said. “It’s unexplained happiness.”

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