As @UNWomen 16 Days of Activism progresses, it is important to acknowledge both the growing risks and the emerging protections within our digital environments. For many women and girls, online spaces have become sites of profound vulnerability. Cyberstalking, coordinated harassment, image-based abuse and manipulative forms of coercive control continue to mirror and intensify the violence experienced offline. These violations produce lasting psychological, social and developmental consequences that cannot be dismissed as virtual or immaterial.

At the same time, we are witnessing encouraging examples of technology being used to strengthen safety. Survivor-informed tools such as the Sophia platform in Switzerland are providing confidential guidance, evidence storage and pathways to local support. Coded communication practices, including the internationally recognised request to “order a pizza”, allow individuals in danger to alert responders without escalating risk. Digital helplines accessible through WhatsApp or discreet chat functions are extending protection to those who cannot safely reach formal services. Educational programmes that build digital literacy and help adolescents recognise online grooming or manipulation are equipping young people with critical skills for safe navigation.

These innovations show that technology can contribute meaningfully to prevention and protection when governed ethically and designed with survivor insight. They also reveal the urgent need for stronger accountability from digital platforms, consistent enforcement of safety standards and legislation that recognises digital violence as a serious human rights and public health concern.

The @WellbeingAfrica Foundation remains committed to supporting policies, programmes and partnerships that strengthen both the safeguards and the responsibilities that shape digital life. As this year’s 16 Days continue, I encourage all institutions to invest in technologies that protect while also confronting the systems, behaviours and regulatory gaps that allow digital harm to persist.

#16Days 
#NoExcuse
#WellbeingForAll
#FrontlineFriday ...

Wishing a Happy Thanksgiving to all celebrating today.

As families gather around tables across the world, giving thanks for the nourishment that sustains us, my thoughts turn to the mothers, newborns, and midwives whose daily work reminds us that nutrition is the foundation for life, dignity, and healthy futures.

This #Thanksgiving and #ThriveThursday, I am deeply grateful for the care I see every day through our @WellbeingAfrica Foundation #MamaCare360 and #NICUPlus programming. From antenatal nutrition counselling to lactation support, our midwives guide mothers through the essential first steps of nourishing both themselves and their babies. Their work ensures that even the smallest and most fragile newborns receive the protection, immunity, and development gains that only early nutrition and breastfeeding can provide.

Breastmilk remains the most powerful food a baby can receive, offering complete immunity, optimal nutrition, and healthy growth. In our NICU Plus settings, where newborns often face their first challenges in life, every drop becomes part of a baby’s pathway to survival and strength. I am thankful for the mothers who persevere through these delicate moments, and for the midwives whose compassion and expertise help them sustain this vital connection.

Today, I give thanks for every family striving to give their child the healthiest beginning, for every midwife whose hands and heart guide that journey, and for every partner committed to advancing maternal and newborn wellbeing.

May this season of gratitude bring comfort, peace, and renewed strength to all families, and may every mother and newborn continue to thrive.

#WellbeingForAll ...

I welcome with profound relief the reported rescue and safe return of the Christian worshippers abducted in Eruku, Kwara State, as well as the schoolgirls taken from Kebbi State. I commend the swiftly dedicated efforts of our national security services, working with their subnational counterparts and state government executives, in making these rescue and return outcomes possible.

As we give thanks for their freedom, my thoughts remain with each survivor. In the spirit of @UnitedNations Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security, our response must now be truly survivor-centred. Their recovery must be supported with compassionate, sustained care, including access to psychosocial counselling and confidential medical screening, alongside community protection that guards against stigma and restores dignity.

I am deeply encouraged by the Inspector General of Police’s deployment to increase vigilance and presence in Eruku following the latest reported insecurity incident, a timely and heartening reminder that community vigilance remains essential to strengthening safety across our nation. Local early-warning systems, trusted reporting channels, and close collaboration among communities, traditional and faith leaders, civil society, and security agencies remain vital to preventing further attacks on schools, places of worship, and public spaces.

While we celebrate these returns, and continue to hope and advocate for the safe recovery of all who remain missing in other states, including those still unaccounted for in Niger State, we must ensure community vigilance and survivor-centred care.

May the #16DaysofActivism against Gender-Based Violence remind us of our shared responsibility to protect every Nigerian life, and to uphold the dignity, security and wellbeing of all, especially women, girls and the most vulnerable in our communities.

📸: #IWD2022 @USInNigeria

#EndGBV
#WPS1325
@WellbeingAfrica
#WellbeingForAll ...

Today, on International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, as I mark the start of the 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence, I am joining the global community in advancing the urgent call to end all forms of violence against women and girls, including the rapidly growing threat of technology-facilitated abuse, aligned with this year’s @UNWomen theme that digital violence is real violence, and that there is #NoExcuse for online abuse.

Digital platforms should offer connection, learning, and opportunity, yet instead, for millions of women and girls, they have become spaces of harassment, coercion, surveillance, manipulation, and intimidation. Up to 58% of women worldwide report experiencing online violence, and up to 95% of deepfake sexual images target women. These harms, rooted in gender inequality and amplified by digital tools and artificial intelligence, have profound real-world consequences for safety, participation, democracy, and rights.

At the @WellbeingAfrica Foundation, our Adolescent Skills and Drills Personal, Social, Health and Economic Education and Water, Sanitation and Hygiene PSHE WASH Programme, which includes our Computerised Skills Labs, equips young people with digital literacy, autonomy, and the ability to recognise, resist, and challenge abusive behaviours early. Empowering girls and engaging boys as allies remain central to prevention, to building digital resilience, and to creating safer online and offline environments.

Throughout these 16 days, I urge governments, technology companies, and multilateral partners to strengthen legal protections, hold perpetrators accountable, and invest in survivor-centred services. Ending violence, whether physical, psychological, or digitally mediated, is essential to achieving sustainable development and safeguarding fundamental human rights.

There is No Excuse for Online Abuse, and we must reclaim digital spaces as places where every woman and girl can learn, speak, lead, and thrive free from fear. I call on all partners to UNiTE to end digital violence against all women and girls everywhere.

#16DaysOfActivism
#StopDigitalViolence
#WellbeingForAll ...

#DYK Did you know that one third of boys think women’s rights do not matter. The question is, who taught them that?

I recently came across a study from the Global Institute for Women’s Leadership and Ipsos UK, The State of Gender Equality: Attitudes Among Boys and Young Men (2024) @GIWLKings @Ipsos_In_The_UK, which found that many teenage boys in the United Kingdom now believe women’s rights have “gone far enough”, and a growing number feel that feminism has “gone too far”. Similar findings have been echoed in school-based research across the country, signalling a shift in boys’ attitudes toward equality that deserves urgent attention.

If equality is perceived with suspicion, it suggests that the principles of respect, fairness, and shared dignity are not being properly understood, communicated, or consistently taught. Women’s rights are foundational to the wellbeing and future of families, communities, and societies. When boys do not recognise this, the environment shaping them requires closer examination.

It is easy to focus solely on blaming the internet, and yes, online spaces play a powerful role in shaping attitudes toward women and power. Yet this issue runs deeper. Boys learn from what they observe at home, from what is normalised in classrooms, from peer behaviour, and from the wider culture that quietly forms their understanding of the world.

Not all violence leaves a physical mark. Emotional abuse, digital humiliation and threats, coercive behaviour, and sustained control can erode self-worth and mental health in ways that are often overlooked or dismissed.

The @WellbeingAfrica Foundation @WBWVoices Youth Mentorship Initiative affirms the @WHO_Africa @WHO perspective that recognising the signs, strengthening the evidence base, supporting survivors, and speaking with clarity are essential steps forward. It is never “just words”. There is no justification for violence in any form. Ending the silence is how we begin to safeguard emotional and mental wellbeing for every woman, girl, child, and every family.

#MaternalMonday
@HearHerStories
#TeachRespect 
#EqualityForAll 
#WellbeingForAll ...

As a Member of the @AstraZeneca Global Breast Cancer Care Council and the Concordia Leadership Council, I welcome the publication of Repaying the Debt to Women: Breast Cancer Policy Report, developed following the Breast Cancer Care Luncheon during the 2025 @ConcordiaSummit on the margins of the 80th @UnitedNations General Assembly High-Level Week, where I had the honour to contribute.

The report demonstrates with clarity that inequities in early detection, timely diagnosis, and comprehensive breast cancer care continue to cost women their lives. With global incidence projected to reach 3.2 million new cases annually by 2050, the need for systemic reform is urgent. The Breast Cancer Care Quality Index #BCCQI provides governments and health systems with a practical, evidence-based framework to identify gaps, strengthen infrastructure, and align National Cancer Control Plans with equitable standards of care.

Insights from the Luncheon’s expert roundtables highlight the need to expand diagnostic capacity, embed accessible community-based screening models, confront stigma through patient-led advocacy, and invest in robust data systems capable of guiding targeted reforms. The report also affirms a mission long championed by the @WellbeingAfrica Foundation, that only sustained collaboration between governments, civil society, industry, and patient groups can deliver the scale and durability of impact required. Through #WBFA, we remain committed to advancing women-centred health education, early detection awareness, patient navigation, and strengthened frontline capacity.

As reflected in my remarks within the report, inequities in breast cancer care are structural in nature, with consequences that extend across families, communities, and economies. Addressing them is both a public health necessity and a foundation for more inclusive and resilient societies.

I commend AstraZeneca, Concordia, @Siemens.Healthineers, @Merck, Movement Health, and all expert partners for advancing a coherent and actionable agenda to improve breast cancer outcomes globally.

#Concordia25 
#UNGA80 
#BreastCancerResolution
#WellbeingForAll ...

I am deeply saddened to learn that our dear friend Segun Awolowo, a consummate gentleman in every sense of the word, has departed our world.

Segun truly carried his legendary lineage with humility, as an astute lawyer and a devoted public servant. For those of us who grew up with him, we will always remember his infectious smile, his fluent command of the French language, his charmingly gallant chivalry, and his charisma. His passing is a great loss not only to the illustrious family he represented but also to the nation he served so diligently.

Along with my family, my heartfelt condolences, thoughts and prayers are with his mother, Sisi Abah Folawiyo; his wife, Bola, their children and granddaughter, the entire Awolowo family; and to all who mourn his loss.

Repose en paix, Segun. Tu resteras toujours dans nos cœurs; We will miss you, Segun. Rest in Peace, Amen.

@segunawo7

#RestInPeace #SegunAwolowo ...

The World Children’s Day theme, My Day, My Rights, directs our attention to how children experience their rights through the health care they receive, the classrooms they enter and the stability of their homes and communities. I welcome @UNICEF’s State of the World’s Children 2025, Ending Child Poverty: Our Shared Imperative report, which highlights how poverty, both in income and access to essential services, remains a major barrier to realising the @UnitedNations Convention on the Rights of the Child.

At the @WellbeingAfrica Foundation, our work reflects the report’s emphasis on early life systems and strong frontline delivery. Through #MamaCare360 and MamaCare360 #NICUPlus, we strengthen midwifery and primary health care while integrating #PSHE #WASH and essential nutrition to support safe pregnancy, skilled birth and the foundations of early childhood. As children move into school-age and adolescence, our community-based health literacy, hygiene and nutrition initiatives continue to reinforce wellbeing and learning. These integrated, multi-sector approaches align closely with the priorities identified in the report as essential to improving outcomes and expanding opportunity.

For Nigeria, with nearly 105 million children and adolescents, the report’s findings are particularly relevant. The conditions shaping childhood today will define our future human capital development trajectory. World Children’s Day therefore offers a clear message, guided by UNICEF’s report, and through sustained collaboration between government, partners and organisations such as my Wellbeing Foundation Africa, we can ensure that each Nigerian child’s day more fully reflects their rights and strengthens the shared future we aim to build.

#WorldChildrensDay
#MyDayMyRights
#ForEveryChild
#SOWC2025
#WellbeingForAll
#ThriveThursday ...

As I reflect on International Men’s Day yesterday, I am celebrating the wonderful men and boys in my life, from my father to my husband, our sons, grandson, and my brothers, whose kindness, strength and everyday acts of care inspire me. They remind me how important it is to nurture boys who grow into grounded, compassionate and supportive men.

Across our communities, positive male role models shape families and futures. At the @WellbeingAfrica Foundation we see that when men and boys are encouraged, informed and supported, homes become stronger, children feel safer and communities grow more resilient.

May we continue to uplift the men and boys around us, engage them and create the environments where they can lead with empathy, purpose and confidence.

#InternationalMensDay
#SupportingMenAndBoys
#WellbeingForAll ...

I welcome the start of World Antimicrobial Resistance Awareness Week 2025 as a vital opportunity to Act Now: Protect Our Present, Secure Our Future, and to highlight the constructive progress achievable through coordinated, preventive action across all sectors.

Antimicrobial resistance continues to shape how we deliver safe, high-quality care, and it calls for strengthened systems that protect both current and future generations. The @WHO’s #OneHealth approach makes clear that aligned efforts across human, animal and environmental health offer a practical and effective pathway to keeping antimicrobials working.

At the @WellbeingAfrica Foundation, our contributions support and bolster Nigeria’s leadership through the National Action Plan on #AMR, where expanded surveillance, strengthened stewardship and the integration of IPC within routine care are driving meaningful national momentum. By embedding #WASH and #IPC as everyday standards in maternity and primary health facilities, equipping our #WBFA frontline midwives, nurses, doctors and health workers with continuous competencies, and strengthening community understanding of responsible antimicrobial use, we help translate these multisectoral commitments into tangible improvements in safety, resilience and the protection of essential medicines at the point where care begins.

#WorldAMRAwarenessWeek affirms that practical solutions are within reach, with stronger diagnostics, quality-assured medicines, improved data systems, and sustained investment in prevention-focused care collectively guiding the way toward healthier communities and a more secure future.

#WAAW2025 
#WellbeingForAll ...

I am pleased to applaud the landmark signing of the Memorandum of Understanding between @BayerOfficial, Chromedix Pharmaceuticals, and the Presidential Initiative for Unlocking the Healthcare Value Chain, witnessed by the Delegation of the European Union to Nigeria and ECOWAS @EUinNigeria in Abuja, in alignment with the Nigeria-EU Health Investment Forum.

As a member of the Bayer Sustainability Council and Founder & President of the @WellbeingAfrica, I welcome the ambition to expand access to modern family planning for one million additional women in Nigeria. Improving contraceptive availability is central to realising bodily autonomy, safeguarding maternal health, and enhancing the economic prospects of girls and women in Africa’s most populous nation.

This partnership reflects the importance of localisation, co creation, and shared expertise in building a resilient Nigerian pharmaceutical ecosystem. By strengthening regional supply chains and nurturing local talent, it contributes meaningfully to the vision of a self reliant and sustainable health sector.

I also commend the leadership of the Afrika Verein der deutschen Wirtschaft and the Delegation of German Industry and Commerce in Nigeria, as well as the recognition by Parliamentary State Secretary Stefan Rouenhoff and Director General Birgit Pickel of the initiative’s strategic value.

The Wellbeing Foundation Africa stands ready to continue supporting evidence based, community rooted efforts that advance equitable development and healthier futures for communities across Nigeria and Sub-Saharan Africa.

#FamilyPlanning
#HealthForAll
#StrongerTogether
#WellbeingForAll ...

As an Advisor to the @EveryBreath_Counts Global Campaign, launched at the @AfricanUnion_Official Summit in 2016 with the @GatesFoundation, @UNICEF, and development partners, I mark World Pneumonia Day 2025 under the theme Child Survival, drawing attention to pneumonia as the world’s most persistent and inequitable infectious killer.

Responsible for 2.5 million deaths annually, including over 670,000 children, pneumonia continues to expose deep inequities in health access, nutrition, and environmental safety. In sub-Saharan Africa, where malnutrition, air pollution, and weak health infrastructure converge, a child is more than ten times likelier to die from pneumonia than in a high-income setting.

The Every Breath Counts Coalition, uniting over one hundred governments, multilateral agencies, and civil-society partners, advances a coordinated response through the Global Action Plan for Pneumonia and Diarrhoea #GAPPD. Its protect–prevent–treat framework strengthens immunisation with pneumococcal conjugate and Haemophilus influenzae type b vaccines; promotes exclusive breastfeeding, optimal nutrition, clean water, sanitation, and clean cookstoves to reduce household pollution; and ensures early diagnosis and treatment through amoxicillin dispersible tablets, pulse oximetry, and reliable medical oxygen.

Through my @WellbeingAfrica Foundation, we advance #EveryBreathCounts objectives by embedding pneumonia prevention, treatment, and awareness within our Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn, Child, and Adolescent Health #RMNCAH programmes. Our work equips midwives, nurses and frontline health workers to recognise and manage respiratory distress, strengthens oxygen readiness, and promotes cross-sector alignment integrating immunisation, nutrition, #WASH, and clean-energy initiatives, including the adoption of clean cookstoves and cleaner household fuels to curb indoor air pollution, a leading cause of childhood pneumonia.

By ensuring every facility is equipped, every child nourished, and every breath protected, we move toward a world where no life is lost to preventable illness, where every breath counts.

📸: @StopTB @ConcordiaSummit #UNGA80 Roundtable, September 2025 ...