Over the past week in Ilorin, Kwara State, the Maternal and Neonatal Mortality Reduction Innovation Initiative (MAMII) Implementation Design Workshop convened federal and subnational leadership, SWAp teams, development partners, and civil society to co-create implementation pathways for accelerating Nigeria’s progress on maternal and newborn survival.

Structured around MAMII’s six-pillar framework, community engagement, equitable access, facility readiness, data governance, digital innovation, and coordination under the Sector-Wide Approach, this high-level technical forum targeted Nigeria’s 172 highest-burden local government areas, where over half of maternal and neonatal deaths occur.

Under the visionary leadership of Nigeria’s Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Professor Muhammad Ali Pate, the SWAp model has become a pioneering mechanism for aligning federal, subnational, donor, and private sector efforts into a unified national delivery platform. As a long-standing advocate for systems-based reform and cross-sector maternal health action, I commend this progress.

I am delighted that the Wellbeing Foundation Africa was recognised and engaged as a trusted technical partner, contributing to the Facility and Service Readiness Cluster through the expertise of our focal state implementation team. Drawing on our community-based maternal and newborn health programmes, including MamaCare360 antenatal and postnatal care education, and Emergency Obstetric and Neonatal Care (EmONC) capacity-building initiatives, the Wellbeing Foundation Africa advanced actionable recommendations to strengthen human resources, optimise infrastructure, and deliver quality care centred on women and families.

Strategic bilateral engagements, including discussions with Dr. Dayo Adeyanju, National Coordinator, MAMII, during the workshop, reinforced WBFA’s alignment with MAMII priorities. We now look forward to deepening collaboration with subnational and national actors to formalise our role across focal states, ensuring that implementation remains harmonised, rights-based, and community-driven.