In Abuja, Mrs Toyin Saraki, Founder and President of the Wellbeing Foundation Africa (WBFA), together with the Foundation’s Directorate and frontline programme, policy, and advocacy team leads, joined a high-level strategic multilateral meeting with UNICEF and the Africa CDC Centre for Primary Health at the United Nations House. The discussions were convened at the kind invitation of UNICEF Nigeria, under the leadership of Dr Rownak Khan, Deputy Representative, and Dr Paul Ngwakum, Regional Health Advisor for Eastern and Southern Africa, alongside Dr Landry Tsague Dongmo, Director of the Africa CDC Centre for Primary Health.
The dialogue built upon decades of collaboration, notably the WBFA and UNICEF joint co-hosting of Nigeria’s First Charter Implementation Conference on the Child Rights Act in 2010, and reaffirmed the shared conviction that universal health coverage in Nigeria cannot be achieved without sustained investment in frontline health workers and community-based service delivery. Mrs Saraki emphasised that scaling continuity of care for children – particularly in the crucial stage from 18 months to school entry – is essential for long-term health, development, and equity.
Conversations explored opportunities to transform the role of primary health centres, moving beyond immunisation and emergency response to serve as hubs for integrated, community-based health and nutrition services. The deliberations also examined the structural financing reforms needed to position Nigeria as a continental leader in delivering on the African Union’s 2030 target of two million trained community health workers.
The meeting reinforced the urgency of advancing an integrated, equity-driven, and multisectoral strategy, guided by the principles of nutrition, WASH, health education, and accountability, aligned with the “One Plan, One Budget, One Monitoring and Evaluation” framework outlined in the Monrovia Call to Action. WBFA’s inputs reflected its commitment to embedding evidence-based interventions into systems-level reforms, ensuring that community health worker investment is not only prioritised but strengthened with sustainable financing and political will.
As a Foundation entering its third decade of frontline delivery and policy advocacy, WBFA, under the leadership of Mrs Saraki, expressed deep appreciation for UNICEF’s enduring partnership and for the Africa CDC’s shared vision for primary health systems strengthening. The engagement concluded with a renewed commitment to advance global and continental health priorities by consolidating human capital investments in community health workers, delivering measurable and lasting improvements in maternal, newborn, child, and adolescent health outcomes.
Through this alignment, WBFA continues to work with international partners to ensure that every woman, every child, and every community across Nigeria and Africa is not only served with dignity but empowered to thrive in health, nutrition, and wellbeing.