As the work of High-Level Week at the 81st Session of the @UnitedNations General Assembly continued in New York, the delegation of my H.E. Toyin Saraki Global Policy and Philanthropy Office and the @WellbeingAfrica Foundation spoke at The Science Exists. Why Is Delivery Still Failing? Closing the Gap for Mothers, Children and Adolescents, the private breakfast roundtable convened by @ForeignPolicy in partnership with @ViiVHealthcare and held under the Chatham House Rule, sharing the Foundation’s frontline experience of health delivery in Nigeria.

The question posed in the title is precisely the one I carry as Co-Chair of the @AfricaREACH1 Leadership Council, where our purpose is to see a proven scientific and clinical protocol for the prevention of vertical transmission translated into routine service delivery reaching every mother, infant and adolescent on our continent.

Some 120,000 children acquired HIV through vertical transmission in the most recent year counted, and while 79% of adults living with HIV receive antiretroviral therapy, only 55% of children do, a disparity in coverage that has widened rather than closed. Nigeria remains among the countries carrying the largest numbers of children newly acquiring HIV, which places a particular duty upon all of us who work alongside our health system.

The means of prevention have been established for years, so the deficit lies in implementation, in antenatal services not reached, in testing not offered, in treatment not continued through the postpartum and breastfeeding period, and in paediatric formulations that do not arrive. Through #MamaCare360 and the midwives of my @WellbeingAfrica Foundation, we work precisely where those gaps open, in the antenatal and postnatal contact at which a mother and her infant can be tested, treated and retained in care.

As financing contracts, governments, industry and donors must protect the integration of HIV services within routine antenatal, newborn and adolescent care, so that no child begins life with an infection the world has long known how to prevent.

#UNGA81
#AfricaREACH
#EndPaediatricAIDS
#WellbeingForAll ...

The delegation of my H.E. Toyin Saraki Global Policy and Philanthropy Office and the @WellbeingAfrica Foundation was glad to take part in Connect, Power, Heal, Bundling Connectivity, Energy, Innovation and Partnership at the Health Frontline, convened at the UN Church Center during #UNGA81 by the Health Innovation Exchange under this year’s Better Together banner, bringing together @Proximie, @AmrefHealthAfrica, the M-PESA Foundation, the Mawingu Foundation, the Council of Governors of Kenya, the American College of Surgeons through ACS H.O.P.E., Lwala Community Alliance and Lacuna.

Ask a surgeon in a district hospital what stands between her and the operation in front of her, and the answer is seldom a single thing. The theatre may be equipped and the power unreliable, the clinician skilled and the specialist unreachable, the technology installed and the bandwidth absent. Bundled together, last-mile connectivity, dependable energy and fit-for-purpose clinical technology amount to a functioning service, while delivered separately each waits upon the others.

As Special Adviser to the Independent Advisory Group of the @WHO_Africa Regional Office, and in our capacity as a partner to this work through my Wellbeing Foundation Africa, I have observed how frequently the constraint upon our health systems rests in these foundations rather than in the will or the skill of African health workers, and how swiftly matters improve when partners arrive together rather than in turn.

There was a welcome discipline to this convening, as partners returned a year on from the commitments made at the last General Assembly to account for what has been delivered, what has held and what has proved harder than expected. That habit of coming back to report is one our sector would do well to adopt far more widely.

Governments, operators and investors would do well to design connectivity, energy and clinical technology as a single proposition, so that the frontline receives a service that works rather than a collection of parts.

#UNGA81
#HealthInnovation
#WellbeingForAll ...

My office was pleased to take part in the Africa Social Impact Summit Global Action Forum at #UNGA81, hosted by @SterlingOneFoundation with @UNFPA and RALLY Africa as Strategic Co-Hosts, alongside @UN_Nigeria, the Federal Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning @PlanninginNigeria, and @GlobalCompactNigeria.

Convened under the theme of Financing for Development: Building Resilience and Transforming Emerging Economies, the Forum carried the conversation from Lagos to New York around a question that will shape the coming decade, which is how Africa might unlock and deploy new pools of capital at the scale that resilient economies and sustainable development genuinely require. Having served as a Member of the United Nations Global Compact since 2018, we at the @WellbeingAfrica Foundation have long worked toward the answer.

The delegation was glad to reconnect with Ms Mariarosa Cutillo Blake, Chief of the Private Sector and Civil Society Branch at UNFPA, whose work in drawing private capital toward the health and rights of women and girls speaks directly to the purpose of this convening.

That maternal health now sits among the investment priorities named in New York is a welcome recognition of what those of us in this field have long understood, which is that the health of a mother is not a cost to be carried but a foundation upon which the prosperity of a nation is built, and that what is invested in her returns to the household she leads, to the workforce she sustains, and to every generation that follows her. My hope is that the commitments made in that room travel home with those who made them, into the budgets, the institutions and the communities where they will be measured.

#UNGA81
#FinancingForDevelopment
#ASIS2026
#WellbeingForAll ...

As my Global Office and the @WellbeingAfrica Foundation delegation continued its engagements through #UNGA81, my office joined the Business Council for International Understanding and the Global Self-Care Federation for their high-level roundtable, Beyond the Next Pandemic and Towards Universal Health Coverage, on self-care, community resilience and the future of health sustainability.

Opened by Mr Greg Perry, Director General of GSCF, the discussion heard a keynote from Dr Mohamed Hassany, Assistant Minister of Health and Population of Egypt, and perspectives from Dr Samuel Kaba Akoriyea of the Ghana Health Service @_GHSOfficial and Dr Mercy Mwangangi and Mr Anthony Lenayara of Kenya`s Social Health Authority and Digital Health Agency, alongside partners including @ThisIsReckitt, @UNICEF, @UNFoundation, @ColgatePalmoliveCo and @PATHGlobalHealth.

GSCF`s newly launched report, The Global Social and Economic Value of Self-Care 2.0, the first to measure the preventive value of self-care, finds that self-care now saves health systems some $144 billion a year, up from $119 billion four years ago, while adding 24 million high-quality years of life, with benefits that could rise by up to 50% by 2040 under supportive policies.

Sub-Saharan Africa faces half of the world`s projected shortfall of ten million health workers by 2030, #SelfCare extends the reach of the health system into every home, as individuals, families and communities take an active part in promoting health, preventing disease and managing illness. Through our frontline programming and the health literacy our midwives, nurses, and community health workers build across Nigeria, WBFA equips women, adolescents and families with the knowledge and confidence to practise safe and informed self-care, recognise danger signs early and seek skilled care in good time.

I encourage governments and partners to integrate responsible self-care into national health strategies and primary health care, strengthening health literacy and access to quality-assured products on the road to universal health coverage. My thanks to BCIU, GSCF and Sidley Austin for such a timely convening.

#UNGA81
#UHC
#WellbeingForAll ...

As my Global Office and @WellbeingAfrica Foundation delegation continued its #UNGA81 engagements, it was a privilege for my office to attend Health Resilience in the 21st Century, Delivering Outcomes Amid Shocks and Stressors, convened by The @RockefellerFdn and @SeedGlobalHealth, on whose Board of Trustees I am honoured to serve, and livestreamed to audiences around the world.

Nigeria’s voice opened the programme, as the Honourable Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Mr @Taiwoyedele, delivered an opening address, and it was especially meaningful to hear him speak to the central role of finance ministries in building health systems that endure.

A second panel on resilience from the ground up, moderated by Manisha Bhinge of the Rockefeller Foundation, heard from Dr Monika Moir of Stellenbosch University, Dr Agostinho Sousa of the UK Health Security Agency, Dr Mebratu Massebo of Ethiopia’s Ministry of Health and Joy Phumaphi of the African Leaders Malaria Alliance, followed by a conversation between @DrVBKerry, Co-Founder and CEO of Seed and WHO Director-General’s Special Envoy for Health Resilience, and Hon. Budi Gunadi Sadikin, Minister of Health of Indonesia, and closing remarks from Dr Naveen Rao.

Seed’s partnerships with governments and universities have trained more than 47,000 doctors, nurses and midwives across Africa, and the Wellbeing Foundation Africa holds the same conviction in Nigeria, where our midwives, nurses, doctors and health workers help keep care for women, children and adolescents within reach across the life course when systems come under strain.

I invite governments, philanthropies and partners to treat the health workforce as core infrastructure and to finance resilience through integrated, country-led primary health care, placing mothers and newborns at the centre of every preparedness plan. My thanks to the Rockefeller Foundation, Dr Kerry and Seed, and to the Honourable Minister for bringing Nigeria’s perspective to so important a conversation.

#UNGA81
#HealthResilience
#HealthWorkforce
#WellbeingForAll ...

Warm congratulations to H.E. Dr. (Mrs.) Florence Ajimobi @FlorenceAjimobi on her posting by His Excellency President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR, as Nigeria’s Ambassador to the Republic of Austria and Permanent Representative to the International Organisations in Vienna.

As First Lady of Oyo State, you stood firmly for women and vulnerable households, and through the ABC Foundation you continue to bring hope to so many affected by cancer. It is a joy to see your service recognised in this way, and Nigeria is truly well represented.

Wishing you every success and blessing in Vienna. 🇳🇬🇦🇹 ...

It is a privilege to serve on the Advisory Board of @EveryPregnancy alongside Amira Sajwani, Emmanuel Akpakwu and Zaheerah Bham-Ismail, under the distinguished leadership of Isra Chaker @IsraSpeaks.

Every Pregnancy has demonstrated what becomes possible when communities of faith place mothers at the centre of their philanthropy. As the world`s first Zakat-approved Muslim collaborative dedicated to maternal and newborn health, its coalition now unites more than 80 organisations across 25 countries. During Ramadan this year, catalysed by a Boost Fund made possible through the generosity of the @GatesFoundation and the DAMAC Foundation, it mobilised over $91 million in a single month from more than 192,000 donors, bringing the total raised for maternal and newborn health since 2024 to nearly $130 million. This is catalytic, faith-inspired philanthropy in action, and a model for how to finance maternal health at scale.

Behind every figure stands a mother. Too many women continue to lose their lives to causes we know how to prevent, and for those living through conflict, displacement and crisis, the dangers are graver still. Across more than two decades of service through my Wellbeing Foundation Africa @WellbeingAfrica, we have learned that when we invest in midwives, nurses and health workers, in respectful care and in the voices of women themselves, lives are saved.

I look forward to advancing this work with my fellow Board members, the Every Pregnancy team and our partners, to strengthen collaboration, expand what works and realise a world where every pregnancy is safe and every baby has a healthy start. 🤍

#EveryPregnancy
#WellbeingForAll
#FrontlineFriday ...

Over the weekend, my dear sister Dr Amina Aminu Dorayi celebrated her 50th birthday, and I join her family, friends and colleagues across the global health community in wishing her a truly blessed birthday.

As Nigeria Country Director and Regional Portfolio Director for West and Central Africa at @PathfinderInt and co-Chair of Women in Global Health Nigeria @WGHNigeria @WomeninGH, Amina has devoted her career to widening access to quality health care for women, girls and underserved communities, most recently chairing the Technical Advisory Committee of the Gender and Inclusion Summit 2026 in Abuja.

May this new decade bring you abundant good health, happiness and peace, dear Amina @Official_DrAmina. Happy 50th birthday!

#HappyBirthday
#WellbeingForAll ...

On this International Day of Democracy, the @UnitedNations calls on us to ensure that every voice counts, drawing attention this year to deliberative processes that bring together people from every part of society to enrich decision-making, foster trust and build more peaceful, inclusive and resilient societies.

Among the most practical expressions of that vision is the United Nations Democracy Fund #UNDEF, which for more than twenty years has supported over one thousand initiatives in more than 130 countries, directing the large majority of its grants to local civil society organisations. I warmly encourage Nigerian community groups, women-led organisations and youth networks to explore UNDEF’s annual call for proposals, which welcomes projects advancing women’s leadership and youth engagement, and to bring forward the ideas that can strengthen participation in their own communities.

Participation is also nurtured one person at a time, and it has been a privilege to serve as a mentor to the first cohort of the Citizenship and Leadership Training Centre and African Women Leaders Network Nigeria Chapter Young Women’s Leadership Mentorship Programme, @YWLC_NG @AWLNNigeriaOfficial, whose recent sessions have explored safety, wellbeing, resilience and the practice of sustainable leadership. Every young woman who finds the confidence to speak, to lead and to serve enriches the life of her community.

May we recommit, today and every day, to making room for women and young people wherever decisions are made, so that democracy delivers the dignity and inclusion that every society deserves.

@WellbeingAfrica
#InternationalDayOfDemocracy
#DemocracyDay
#YouthEngagement
#WellbeingForAll ...