…as Wellbeing Foundation Africa showcases its frontline health partnerships for impact

Toyin Saraki, Founder-President of the Wellbeing Foundation Africa (WBFA), has welcomed the commitments by leading international organisations to develop a joint plan to speed up progress on the 2030 global agenda, as announced at the World Health Summit in Berlin this week.

The Action Plan, presented by WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus at the summit, aims to “align, accelerate and account,” and will be put together in full over the next twelve months.

The World Health Summit, which since its launch in 2009 has brought together stakeholders and decision-makers from every field in the healthcare spectrum, boasted a programme including speeches from German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Bill Gates and Toyin Saraki.

Mrs Saraki while speaking at the summit said: “As Dr. Tedros said in his opening remarks: “Gesundheit ist ein Menschenrecht” – health is a human right. He was correct, however, that we are not on track to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals: we will miss the targets on maternal, child and neonatal mortality; we will miss the targets on HIV, TB and malaria; and we will miss the targets on family planning, child stunting and universal health coverage.

“I therefore welcome the announcement of an ‘Action Plan’ which must act as an urgent wake-up call to global institutions and Governments around the world. Global health threats require global responses, but without adequate investment we will fail to provide the health and wellbeing for future generations that we have promised.”

Following the World Health Summit, Toyin Saraki’s goodwill message was delivered to the 5th German-Africa Health Symposium, focusing on the frontline work of the Wellbeing Foundation and its partners, commenting:

“Our Emergency Obstetric and Newborn Care – known as EmONC – training programme has resulted in a 15% reduction in maternal case fatality rate and a 38% reduction in the still birth rate in health care facilities where the project is implemented. With our partners at the Centre for Maternal and Newborn Health (CMNH) at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine and Johnson & Johnson, I am proud that we have moved to the next stage of the programme and will expand the training across the whole of Kwara State. Over 600 healthcare providers will benefit directly from the interventions and over the 30-month project, an estimated 62,900 women and their newborns will benefit from the interventions implemented.”

“To harness the power of the private sector for WASH, the Wellbeing Foundation Africa has launched a new partnership with Unilever Lifebuoy Nigeria and Sightsavers to improve hygiene practices to impact more than 2 million children over the following 12 months. The partnership will work on programmes which promote hygiene messages and prevent disease, advancing critical hygiene interventions such as handwashing with soap, addressing the issue of child illnesses and mortality due to preventable diseases.”

https://www.mcebisco.com.ng/2018/10/world-health-summit-toyin-saraki.html