As my Global Office and the Wellbeing Foundation Africa delegation continued their engagements at the 81st session of the United Nations General Assembly, it was a privilege for my office to attend Health Resilience in the 21st Century, Delivering Outcomes Amid Shocks and Stressors, convened by The Rockefeller Foundation and Seed Global Health, 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 Taiwo Oyedele, 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 Dr Vanessa Kerry, 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.

 

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