The Wellbeing Foundation Africa (WBFA), led by its Founder-President Toyin Ojora Saraki, is this week attending multilateral meetings at the 72nd World Health Assembly in Geneva, Switzerland.

The World Health Assembly is the decision-making body of the World Health Organization (WHO); determining the policies of the WHO, supervising financial policies, and reviewing and approving its programmatic budgets.

Toyin Saraki, who also serves as Special Adviser to the Independent Advisory Group of the WHO Regional Office for Africa, will speak at high-level events throughout the week, including alongside WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus and H.E. Mrs Emine Erdogan, First Lady of The Republic of Turkey, focusing on aligning women’s, children’s and adolescents’ health and wellbeing in humanitarian and fragile settings and frontline healthcare workers.

Speaking upon arrival at the World Health Assembly, Toyin Saraki commented:

“It is auspicious that my first engagement at the World Health Assembly this year is to celebrate ‘heroines of health’ alongside Women in Global Health, Johnson & Johnson and Medtronic Foundation. Women make up 70% of the global health workforce but are underrepresented in positions of leadership. If we are to achieve universal health coverage and leave no-one behind by 2030, we must drive change for gender equity and strengthen healthcare workers.”

“I support Dr Tedros’ call to action to address the predicted shortfall of 18 million health workers and, as Global Goodwill Ambassador for the International Confederation of Midwives, welcome the launch of the report conducted by WHO, ICM, UNFPA and UNICEF: ‘Strengthening quality midwifery education for Universal Health Coverage 2030: A transformative approach to improving quality of care.’”

“Women and newborns are the most vulnerable in humanitarian and fragile settings. Quality midwifery education saves lives by preparing healthcare workers emergency health situations. Investing in the health and social workforce is critical to the attainment of the health Sustainable Development Goals and I look forward to working with the WHO, global partners and frontline healthcare workers to make that a reality”.