I thoroughly enjoyed kick-starting the new week by participating at the UN High-level Political Forum side event entitled, “From Page to Action: Accountability for the Furthest Left behind in COVID-19 & Beyond.” The conversation was strong, timely and direct, as well as being a fantastic way to launch the 2020 Report of the UN Secretary-General’s Independent Accountability Panel for Every Woman Every Child.

Co-hosted by the Governments of Japan, South Africa, and Georgia and co-organized by the Every Woman Every Child Secretariat, the Independent Accountability Panel (IAP), International Health Partnership for UHC 2030 (UHC2030), and the Partnership for Maternal, Newborn & Child Health (PMNCH), I appreciated the opportunity of knowledge sharing to deepen the efforts and engagement of my organisations, the Wellbeing Foundation Africa, and Wellbeing For Women Youth Voices towards promoting institutional accountability at national, regional and global policy tiers.

As we herald the new commitments targeted at mitigating the disruptions of the Sars-Cov2 pandemic in expectation of focused investments, we are once again reminded that the initiation, solution and fiscal appropriations to drive the delivery and accountability of truly accessible health for all must be embraced and fall within the remits of local and national parliaments. Today, and every day, I particularly commend the WHO Partnership for Maternal Newborn And Child Health PMNCH’s ongoing strong collaboration with the International Parliamentary Union IPU, as signalled by the Inter-Parliamentary Union’s historic first resolution towards Universal Health Coverage in 2019, substantiating global approaches to recordkeeping.

I was particularly enthused by contributions from a number of high-level speakers and leading voices for the delivery of Universal Health Coverage, namely, H.E. Mr. Cyril Ramaphosa; President of South Africa; Chairperson of the African Union, Mr. Shinichi Kitaoka; President, Japan International Cooperation Agency JICA, Ms. Joy Phumaphi, Co-Chair, Independent Accountability Panel for Every Woman Every Child, Mr. Elhadj As Sy; Chair of the Board, Kofi Annan Foundation, Ms. Gabriela Cuevas Barron, President, Inter-Parliamentary Union, Dr. Khuất Thị Hải Oanh; Civil Society Engagement Mechanism, UHC2030, Dr. Natalia Kanem, Executive Director, UNFPA, H.E. Mr. Kaha Imnadze; Permanent Representative of Georgia to the UN, H.E. Ms. María Fernanda Espinosa Garcés; Member, UHC Movement Political Advisory Panel, UHC2030, Ms. Evalin Karijo; Project Director, Youth in Action, Amref Health Africa, Mr. Peter MacDougall, Assistant Deputy Minister of Global Issues and Development, Global Affairs Canada, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus; Director-General, WHO; Chair, H6 Partnership, Rt. Hon. Helen Clark, Former Prime Minister, New Zealand; Board Chair, PMNCH, and of course, Ms. Gillian Tett; Chair of the Editorial Board & Editor-at-Large (US), The Financial Times (Moderator), alongside so many EWEC partners and frontline organisations.

But as the COVID-19 pandemic’s grip on the world shows no immediate signs of loosening, organisations must therefore acclimatise effectively, by integrating the dual-mindset towards technology, in equipping their workforces and ensuring that the dissemination of information – particularly pertaining to health – remains both accurate and accessible. By making this part of an ongoing global transition a priority, we will see to it that society’s most vulnerable individuals are able to continue accessing the information and services which remain a key component in their livelihood.

As Nigeria, seeks to mitigate the regrettable and inexcusable reputational damage that recent appalling breaches in cybersecurity have caused, we must also underscore the vital role that technologically supported security platforms play in enabling for remote operations and a continued key health services to be delivered when implemented effectively. Invoking cybersecurity measures have been and continue to constitute a key component in ensuring that accurate health information is circulated worldwide, particularly during this Covid-19 pandemic. We must therefore support all initiatives and efforts in the direction of this construct remaining a top global priority.