Wellbeing Foundation Africa Founder-President Commended at the Medical Marketing & Media Awards Following the success at the 2014 United Nations General Assembly, the Wellbeing Foundation Africa Founder-President, H.E Mrs. Toyin Saraki, has been commended for her global advocacy in the advancement of maternal, newborn and child health at the Medical Marketing & Media Awards, taking place on the 2nd of October 2014 in New York. The Medical Marketing & Media (MM&M) Awards is the premier annual healthcare marketing awards program in North America. This year’s program received an estimated 700 submissions, judged by an independent panel of seasoned industry experts, making the MM&M Awards one of the greatest accolades in healthcare marketing. Organized in partnership with McCann Health, the Medical Marketing & Media Awards is honoring Mrs. Saraki with the MM&M Platinum award for her outstanding contribution to healthcare. Having founded the Wellbeing Foundation Africa over 10 years ago, to address issues concerning maternal, newborn and child health, H.E. Mrs. Saraki’s personal journey to becoming a healthcare champion began when she lost a child to the intrinsic failures of the Nigerian healthcare system. Under Saraki’s leadership, the Wellbeing Foundation Africa has instituted a number of programmes and made great progress, including the adoption of the Foundation’s Personal Health Record into the very frontlines of the Nigerian health system. Another birth preparedness intervention that the Wellbeing Foundation Africa has developed is the ‘Mama Kit,’ which ensures that every delivery has all the necessary materials to achieve a safe childbirth. While the maternal mortality ratio in Nigeria has only decreased by 24% since 1990, Nigeria accounts for 13% of all global child deaths under the age of 5 years- one of the highest rates in the world. During her award acceptance speech, Mrs. Toyin Saraki highlighted the importance of communication, education and midwives in saving lives, stating, “One weapon that we have in our fight to reduce infant and maternal mortality is effective communications that can educate mothers on their health and the health of their newborns… These informed and empowered consumers have the power to reinforce healthcare in its entirety – particularly in the developing world, where healthcare is so often mistrusted and maligned.” H.E. Mrs. Toyin Saraki further stated, “Education remains a significant barrier to health in developing countries… Educating men, women and the wider community in developing countries about their health empowers them to make life-saving decisions regarding healthcare…As the inaugural Global Goodwill Ambassador for the International Confederation of Midwives, I have seen how midwives play a crucial, one-on-one role in imparting information to expectant mothers. I believe that with creative insights and support from marketing and media agencies, midwives will be able to deliver crucial health advice in an engaging, life-changing way to even more women.” Over the past few years, the Wellbeing Foundation Africa has worked with McCann Health to develop a demand creation strategy, based on behaviour change communications, which will prepare women for birth and create empowered, health-seeking consumers. Thanking the MM&M Awards for the honor and recognition, H.E Mrs. Toyin Saraki emphasized the need for global partnerships, stating, “An old African proverb says, ‘if you want to go fast, go alone; if you want to go far, go together’. It is in this spirit that I call for further collaboration between health communications professionals and civil society organizations. We need global partnerships -that include international and local perspectives – to tackle the health problems facing communities in the developing world.” Signed: Communications The Wellbeing Foundation Africa wbfafrica.org/press-releases/2014/341-wellbeing-foundation-africa-founder-president-commended-at-the-medical-marketing-a-media-awards.html
Posted on: Fri, 03 Oct 2014 22:43:22 +0000
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