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Goodwill Message:

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Theme: “POW(H)ER CONNECT: Building Bridges, Breaking Barriers”

Distinguished Guests and Healthcare Professionals,

It is with immense pleasure that I join you today on this momentous occasion, as we gather for the Women in Healthcare Forum in collaboration with the Women in Healthcare Network at the Shiro Restaurant in the Landmark Centre today.

My name is Toyin Saraki, and I am the Founder and President of The Wellbeing Foundation Africa, an NGO headquartered in Nigeria which works to improve health and wellbeing outcomes for women and children across the country. WBFA prioritises frontline impact with global advocacy, in alignment with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

First and foremost, I want to extend a heartfelt congratulations to Dr. Dupe Elebute-Odunsi and all the founding members of the Women in Healthcare Network Nigeria for their dedication, vision, and unwavering commitment to empowering women in the healthcare sector. Your leadership is truly inspiring, and it’s an honour to be part of this incredible journey with you.

Today, as we come together under the theme “POW(H)ER CONNECT: Building Bridges, Breaking Barriers,” we embark on a journey of empowerment, collaboration, and positive change. We recognise the pivotal role that women play in healthcare, not just in Nigeria but around the world.

Women make up 70% of the global health and social workforce, and it is estimated that women provide essential health services for around 5 billion people worldwide. According to The Lancet, in Nigeria nearly all midwives, 87% of nursing personnel, and 65% of medical doctors are women. While the financial value of women’s input into health systems is estimated to be over US$3 trillion annually, women’s contributions to health and the health labour market remain markedly undervalued, and they are vastly underrepresented in leadership positions.

Women in health tend to be clustered into lower status, low paid, and often unpaid roles. The healthcare development agenda in Nigeria and across Africa must better value women’s contributions to the population’s physical, social and mental wellbeing. Alongside this, equity issues pertaining to decent work free from all forms of discrimination, harassment, including sexual harassment; gender pay gap; occupational segregation by gender and leadership are important for all United Nations member states to address if the 15 million health worker shortfall to achieve Universal Health Care is to be redressed in an equitable, inclusive and sustainable way.
These disparities are not just a statistic—it’s a challenge that we must collectively address and overcome, as gender equity is key to building resilient health systems and gender transformative health and social care policies to achieve health and wellbeing for all.

Women in Healthcare Network’s mission to connect, inform, and inspire women in the healthcare industry is more important now than ever before. By providing a platform for networking, mentorship, education, and advocacy, today’s Women in Healthcare Forum will empower women to reach their full potential and break through the barriers that hold them back. Yet our work does not stop there, we must also confront the systemic challenges that hinder women’s progress in healthcare, whether it’s gender disparities in leadership roles or the lack of access to financial support for women-led healthcare ventures and opportunity to upskill for women healthcare workers.
As we look forward to the sessions planned for today, let us do so with open minds, compassionate hearts, and a shared commitment to driving positive change for all women in healthcare. “Where Women Lead in Health, Transformation Tends to Follow” – in the realm of healthcare, where women take leadership roles, transformative changes tend to follow.

I am confident that today’s forum will not only inspire us but also galvanise us into action. Together, we have the power to shape the future of healthcare, to break down barriers, and to build equitable bridges that pave the way for a more inclusive and healthier tomorrow.

Thank you.

Today, on International Women’s Day, I was honoured to virtually provide the goodwill speech at the 2024 National Institute for Legislative and Democratic Studies International Women’s Day Celebration!

Under the exemplary leadership of the Director-General, Professor Abubakar Suleiman, a veritable ‘He4She’ who has significantly contributed to uplifting Nigeria – NILDS has been a steadfast champion for gender equality and inclusion, providing essential support and resources to engender women in overcoming obstacles and achieving their full potential. From advocating for women’s rights to promoting women’s representation in governance, NILDS has been at the forefront of driving meaningful change and creating opportunities for women to excel.

As a Member of the UN Women African Women’s Leadership Network and serving on the Steering Council of the African Women Leadership Network Nigeria, I stand witness to the spirit of African and Nigerian women and their integral role in shaping our nation’s democratic evolution. By channelling the principles of aspirational agendas such as the African Union Agenda 2063 and the United Nations 2030 Sustainable Development Goals, the Wellbeing Foundation Africa Women, Girls & Gender Development Target actions encapsulate a vision which recognises and empowers the birth-to-age rights of women and girls.

With Senior Leadership from the Wellbeing Foundation Africa in attendance, we gathered under the theme “Inspire Inclusion,” and were reminded of the importance of recognising and celebrating the contributions of both men and women towards the empowerment of Nigerian women and their increased participation in governance.

This #IWD2024 celebration led by NILDS highlighted the progress we have made while acknowledging the work that still lies ahead. When we inspire others to understand and value women’s inclusion, we forge a better world, and when women themselves are inspired to be included, there’s a sense of belonging and empowerment. Collectively, let’s forge a more inclusive world for women.

Happy #InternationalWomensDay!

Goodwill Speech:

Good Morning Honourable Ministers; Esteemed dignitaries; Distinguished Guests; Thank you to the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, Tropical Health & Education Trust and Ducit Blue Solutions for hosting the Global Health Workforce Programme Nigeria Launch Event today.

I am Toyin Saraki, the Founder and President of The Wellbeing Foundation Africa, an NGO which works to improve health and wellbeing outcomes for women, infants and children across Nigeria, prioritising frontline impact with global advocacy, in alignment with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and UNFPA ICPD Programme of Action and Three Zeros, in particular zero maternal deaths by 2030.

I am honoured to address you today as we launch pivotal partnerships to enhance and advance healthcare across the nation, including the the Wellbeing Foundation Africa partnership with the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine in advancing Emergency Obstetric and Newborn Care competency-based curriculum for resident doctors in Obstetrics and Gynaecology at the National Postgraduate Medical College of Nigeria.

This partnership, supported by the Global Health Workforce Programme funded by the UK Department of Health and Social Care and managed by the Tropical Health and Education Trust and Ducit Blue, underscores our commitment to strengthening the healthcare workforce in Nigeria. Leveraging our previous partnership with the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, leaders in implementing and evaluating interventions and combining research with capacity strengthening in EmONC, we covered 51 HCFs in 16 LGAs in Kwara State between 2015-2020, establishing thirteen emergency obstetric and newborn care skill rooms comprising of ten main skill labs and three mini labs, benefiting over 700 healthcare providers directly, and reaching an estimated 62,900 women and their newborns, recording a 38% reduction in facility stillbirth rate, leading to the development of the Centre of Excellence. WBFA and LSTM aim to continue to collaboratively elevate healthcare delivery standards while advancing towards Universal Health Coverage for all, as fostering a more robust and sustainable healthcare workforce is paramount to ensuring the delivery of high-quality healthcare services and achieving UHC.

A well-trained and adequately supported healthcare workforce forms the backbone of all healthcare systems, serving as the frontline in addressing the diverse healthcare needs of populations. By investing in continuous professional development and training programmes, particularly in critical areas such as Emergency Obstetric and Newborn Care, we not only equip healthcare professionals with the necessary skills and competencies to provide timely and effective care but also contribute to reducing maternal and neonatal mortality rates, as according to the World Health Organization, the lifetime risk of a Nigerian woman dying during pregnancy, childbirth, postpartum or post-abortion is 1 in 22, in contrast to the lifetime risk in developed countries estimated at 1 in 4900.

Our objectives are clear and resolute. We aim to engage OBGYN students in post-graduate medical education, adapt training packages for revision courses and examination OSCE, establish advanced EmONC Centers of Excellence in Abuja and Lagos, and ensure the sustainability of these centres for postgraduate OBGYN revision courses. Furthermore, we are committed to supporting the NPMCN in providing training to residents, ensuring quality assurance, and rigorously evaluating the programme for maximum impact and effectiveness.

Central to the success of this programme are the esteemed experts from the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (Nigeria Liaison Group) and the experienced master trainers in advanced EmONC provided by LSTM. Their invaluable insights and guidance will undoubtedly contribute to the robustness and efficacy of our initiative, ultimately benefiting the healthcare landscape of our nation.

I extend my heartfelt gratitude to all our partners, stakeholders, government officials, dignitaries, and supporters who have joined us today. Your unwavering commitment and steadfast support will ensure we reach our mission of providing quality health and wellbeing for mothers and newborns across Nigeria.

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GOODWILL MESSAGE:

Good Afternoon Honourable Ministers; Esteemed dignitaries; Ladies and Gentlemen; and all the women who are agents of change in health attending this anticipated launch in-person and virtually!

My name is Toyin Saraki and I am the Founder-President of the Wellbeing Foundation Africa, and the Inaugural Global Health Ambassador for the WHO Foundation, a longtime supporter and collaborator of Women in Global Health, with a committed purpose in transforming healthcare in Africa and a particular focus on maternal health and championing midwifery.

My Wellbeing Foundation Africa and I, are delighted to join you all today, as we re-image the role of the Nigerian woman in the health workforce, and aim to achieve gender parity in global health leadership through bringing all genders and backgrounds together to improve global health through Global Transformative Leadership.

As we officially launch Women in Global Health Nigeria today, after its establishment in 2020, I would like to reiterate the importance of ensuring Nigerian women are visible and recognised, while being empowered to shape global health programming, policy and advocacy in communities in Nigeria and the diaspora.

Globally, women are vital members of the health workforce, and with their male counterparts, they fully contribute to improving health outcomes for all communities around the world. Yet, while they play a significant role and make up more than 70% of the health workforce, they occupy less than 25% of senior decision-making positions and are generally in lower paying positions. In the African region, women account for 28% of physicians and averagely about 65% of nurses. In fact, the frontliners in healthcare are mostly women.

Gender inequality in health stems from inequalities in other areas; education, access to capital, political representation, early and discriminatory marriage practices among other social determinants. In the African region, the healthcare workforce closely mirrors the background role of a woman in the community; as the domestic caregiver and nurturer.

Systematic barriers such as the choice of family over career, or training opportunities that involves travel and safety considerations, often discourage women to follow career advancement choices, and if this continues, Nigerian women will not be able influence sector-led improvements to the industry in which they work as the life-potential of many Nigerian woman is affected strongly by reproductive and familial factors, which follow her throughout her life course.

The community health worker is the true definition of the frontline health worker as they are the most often contacted cadre of the health workforce. Composed of mostly women, the community health worker delivers health care work across the important aspects of health indicators such as maternal and child health, immunisations, breastfeeding education and support, infectious diseases like malaria, HIV and TB prevention. Yet their proper recognition and remuneration within the health system is under emphasised, especially as maternal and child health care is arguably the most accessed part of the PHC system, and in Nigeria is most often delivered by a female workforce.

My many decades-long work through the Wellbeing Foundation Africa has focused on achieving measurable results in engendering safer births for mothers and their newborns to survive and thrive through critical thinking, key evidence-based and real solutions, and an in-depth data driven understanding that improves prospects of women, their children, and their communities, alongside strengthening our female healthcare workers and the systems they work within.

Through our flagship Mamacare360 Community Midwifery Antenatal and Postnatal Education Programme, the Wellbeing Foundation Africa is working to improve maternal health by promoting Respectful Maternity Care for all women during pregnancy, childbirth, and in the time after birth. We believe that empowering midwifery is a vital solution to the challenges of providing high-quality maternal and newborn care for all women and newborn infants in all countries. It is also an effective means to promote the health and wellbeing of women of childbearing age, as well as their newborns and families, with a potentially rapid and sustained effect on population health outcomes.

It is said that unlike other sectors, healthcare does not have a “woman problem,” rather, it has a “women in leadership” problem. The prolonged lack of investment and systemic issues in Nigeria have compounded its vulnerabilities. Female health workers are concentrated in low status, low paying and unpaid roles while facing a constant threat of gender bias and harassment. The barriers that female health workers face undermine efforts to realise gender equality as well.

To increase the number of women in positions of leadership in healthcare, we must build a progressive pipeline of confident girls, and support systems to remunerate healthcare workers properly, and build resilient and targeted healthcare systems in Nigeria.

Through our efforts today towards inclusivity of all genders from all career stages and levels within the healthcare space regardless of tribe, religion, age, and socioeconomic status, we can achieve gender transformative leadership which builds an effective, inclusive, and supportive network for Nigerian-based and women of Nigerian origin, working in global health.

By increasing the gender parity ratio until there is equal representation of men and women in health leadership positions in UN agencies, national health governance, academia, STEM, health entrepreneurship, law, and other health-related fields in Nigeria,  establishing partnerships with multilateral sectoral organisations that support the gender intersection and inclusion agenda, influencing national policy that will improve access to a skilled health workforce for women, the gender pay-gap and maternal and child health, while empowering and inspiring young girls to contribute to the Nigerian health sector and providing them with the necessary mentorship to seek future leadership opportunities, we can positively change the course of women in health, women health outcomes and achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

My Wellbeing Foundation Africa and I look forward to working with Women in Global Health Nigeria and Pathfinder Nigeria, to develop a strategic roadmap forward for women engendering in health leadership, while engaging with other UN agencies and international organisations working in health in Nigeria to commit to gender parity being an integral part of their organisational structure and memory. Thank you!

 

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GOODWILL MESSAGE:

Good morning Honourable Ministers; Esteemed dignitaries; Ladies and Gentlemen; my name is Toyin Saraki, and I am the Founder and President of The Wellbeing Foundation Africa, an NGO headquartered in Nigeria which works to improve health and wellbeing outcomes for women, infants and children across the country. WBFA prioritises frontline impact with global advocacy, in alignment with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

I would like to begin by thanking the Nigeria Malala Fund team, and their founder Malala Yousafzai, for their tireless commitment towards a world where every girl can learn and lead. Today, as I join you at the Nigeria Malala Fund National Moment on Basic & Secondary Education, on the United Nations celebrated International Girls in Information and Communications Technology Day, I am thinking of the 112 million girls out of school around the world, and the 20 million children out of school in Nigeria, that we must be a voice for.

Education is the most powerful investment in our future, and this moment is an opportunity for us to encourage our new government to reimagine education for the country and find better ways to provide 12 years of safe, free, quality education for all. Through amending legislation to make education free and compulsory up to senior secondary level, thus guaranteeing 12 years of uninterrupted education for Nigerian children, and by adopting a progressive universalisation approach to the implementation of 12 years of education, which priorities support those at greatest risk of not learning; the poor, the discriminated against, girls, children with disabilities and those facing multiple disadvantages, Nigeria will be on track to achieving SDG 4. This requires financial planning which is gender-responsive and allocates nearly 4% of the GDP and 22.5% of the national budget for education by 2025.

We must also commit to make schools a safe space, ensuring that the students deprived of access to quality education as a result of  conflict, violence or crises are promptly given access to quality alternative education in a safe environment, in line with the National Guidelines for Accelerated Basic Education while enhancing teacher training on school related gender-based violence, inclusion, safeguarding and creating standard operating procedures for responding to rights violations and clear referral pathways for health and wellbeing services.

From communal violence, kidnappings, conflict and frequent attacks, schools are a deeply negative and insecure place for many. From 2020 to 2021 alone, 25 schools were attacked,1,470 learners abducted, 200 children are still missing, and over one million children were too afraid to return to schools. We must provide multi-sectoral support to keep our children safe, and aid in the  development of federal and state level roadmaps and implementation plans, for funding, safety, standards, and training.

Together, we can unlock the power of education. If every girl completed a full 12 year cycle of education in the world, the global economy would benefit from between $15-$30 trillion dollars in lifetime productivity and earnings, peace and security would improve as achieving gender equality in education can decrease the likelihood of conflict by as much as 37%, learning also reduces early marriages, with a 64% reduction occurring if girls are provided secondary education, and if all women in Nigeria completed their secondary education, the country would lower the mortality rate for children under five years old by 43%.

The Wellbeing Foundation Africa has been at the forefront in prioritising education and investing in the lives of children, adolescents, adults and the elderly in Nigeria and across Africa. Since our conception in 2004, WBFA has actively engaged in advocacy, writing of educational materials, policy papers and articles to promote education and implementation of health education programs in collaboration with its local and global partners. Our learnings, guidance and recommendations are currently being actualized through various programmatic means, implemented by a team of committed experts in public health and education who lead our on the ground community trusted grassroots programming.

When a girl is educated, she grows up into a woman who has the adequate knowledge, information and skill to ensure the welfare of her family, the health of her children and the impact her actions have on her community. My Wellbeing Foundation Africa and I look forward to further emboldening and engendering the Malala Fund mission of 12 years of free, safe, quality education for every girl in Nigeria through the Civil Society Manifesto on Education and look ahead to the Gender Review Report, as we work towards the global goal to see every child in school by 2030.

Good morning, my name is Toyin Saraki and I am the Founder, President, of the Wellbeing Foundation Africa and Inaugural Global Health Ambassador for the WHO Foundation. My Foundation works across Africa to improve health and social outcomes for women and their children, a cause I have dedicated much of my life to.

I am delighted to join you all here today, to celebrate the launch and mark of the Smiles for Mothers Program First Use of Heat-Stable Carbetocin in Nigeria and Sub-Saharan Africa. Today is a life changing moment for women around the world, and the global health community as we will actively witness in real-time the vital impact of heat-stable carbetocin, a new formula which does not need refrigeration or cold-chain transportation, challenges we have faced time and time again in Nigeria.

I personally have been awaiting this major maternal health milestone since the publication of the CHAMPION (Carbetocin hemorrhage PreventION) trial results in 2018 – a study led by the World Health Organization (WHO) as part of a collaboration with MSD for Mothers and Ferring Pharmaceuticals. That data then contributed to heat-stable carbetocin being added to the WHO Model List of Essential Medicines (EML), as well as an update in the WHO’s recommendations on uterotonics for the prevention of excessive bleeding after birth.

Postpartum hemorrhage (PPH) is the leading cause of maternal mortality, morbidity and long term disability related to pregnancy and childbirth in not just low-resource countries, but globally, accounting for nearly one quarter of maternal deaths worldwide. In Nigeria, low use of antenatal care (ANC) and delivery services contribute to PPH, with PPH observed to be the most frequently diagnosed obstetric hemorrhage complication, and majority of women who experience PPH complications have no identifiable clinical or historical risk factors prior to.

While improving overall quality of healthcare is crucial to addressing the high maternal deaths, the use of Heat-Stable Carbetocin will be revolutionary. Maternal health, with thriving mothers and children, is the first and most vital component of healthy societies, economies and nations. Healthy mothers lead to healthy families and strong health systems. It has a direct impact on the welfare of society especially in many developing countries, as a mother’s death is much more than an emotional crisis, it often leads to long-term social and economic breakdown, both for her immediate family and the wider community.

Throughout my years advocating for improved maternal health in Nigeria, one thing has always been clear – effective interventions to prevent and treat PPH do exist and can largely reduce the burden of this life-threatening condition.

I personally have addressed the challenges associated with a lack of access to PPH medication and training, and adequate timely maternal health care ,by developing and then implementing programming through my Wellbeing Foundation Africa to improve access to skilled birth attendance, particularly better quality primary health care at a grassroot community level.

The WBFA, in partnership with the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine and Johnson and Johnson has successfully introduced, implemented and championed Emergency Obstetric and Newborn Care (EmONC) Skills and Drills training in Nigeria which takes place in-house and equips doctors, nurses and midwives, as a collective team, with the skills needed to overcome obstetric emergencies. The training uses lifelike anatomical models and simulation case scenarios to enable health workers to develop expert first-hand experience – which is often not common in the developing world. At implementing facilities, there’s been a 15% reduction in maternal fatality & 38% reduction in the stillbirth rates – validating our push to scale these lifesaving innovative capacitation to the pre-service curriculum with the denomination of the Kwara State School of Nursing and Midwifery as Nigeria’s First National Centre of Excellence.

As the Inaugural and Emeritus Global Goodwill Ambassador to the International Confederation of Midwives, since 2014, the WBFA has recognised the role of midwives as primary educators and health carers for chilbearing women in our frontline programmes towards safer births and healthy futures through our flagship Mamacare360 Antenatal and Postnatal programme, which covers the mother’s nutritional status, mental wellbeing, and lifestyle choices, before, during and after pregnancy; profoundly affecting the future health and wellbeing of the mother and child. Antenatal education forms part of the early intervention and promotes positive perinatal outcomes and should be viewed as part of a life-long journey. My Foundation promotes respectful care and the involvement of pregnant women and their families by making the mother a premium partner in her own outcome, through education and awareness in birth preparedness.

The quest for real and practical solutions to improve PPH outcomes in Nigeria has seen us walk the daily path from research bench to hospital bedsides and birthing stools in huts over decades, from a simple mat placed under the mother to measure the flow of blood as a practical signal in 2008, and the oxytocin shot for life, to misoprostol with DFID PATHS2 in 2010, to fighting alongside with Flight For Every Mother for hands-on training across Africa in 2013, to our 6-Year WBFA-LSTM-JNJ Program To Improve The Availability and Quality Of Maternal And Neonatal Health Care In Nigeria through the EmONC Skills and Drills Program pioneered from 2015 to 2021 throughout Kwara State, to the London School of Tropical Medicine’s WOMAN Trial of tranexamic acid in 2018, to advocating to the Global Board of Ferrings in January of 2020, and an ongoing working partnership with Laerdal Global Health to improve community midwives access to modern tools and training in the 670 community HCF we have engaged with across Lagos, Kwara, Osun, Cross River, Kaduna, Kano, Sokoto and the FCT Abuja.

Now, with accessible treatment of PPH through heat-stable carbetocin, we will be much closer to reaching the Sustainable Development Goal 3, with our healthcare workers given timely access to appropriate medications and support in procedures relevant to the management of PPH, and our mothers being aware and knowledgeable on advocating for heat-stable carbetocin.

The fact remains that despite significant statistical improvements, becoming pregnant is still one of the most dangerous things a woman can do in her lifetime in Nigeria where there is a 20-fold higher risk of death than in better resourced regions of the world – but today, with the entry of heat-stable carbetocin into the arsenal, we are a quantum leap closer to tackling and ending PPH, demonstrating first-hand how work across both the public and private sectors can help achieve development goals in global health.

It is my hope that the ground-breaking progress we have made today will also mark a new era in strengthening the Essential Medicines Supply Chain and Drug Revolving Fund Management at the Primary Health Care frontline where this matters most, and to transforming maternal care around the globe with positive impact that will be implemented and accessible everywhere through heightened investment and commitment to the cause. When we save the lives of mothers, we are also saving families and communities from tragic emotional, mental and socio-economic costs of irreplaceable losses, but also realizing and potentiating an enormous opportunity for human development and a healthy future for all.

Thank you.