By Chioma Obinna
To celebrate women in healthcare, LiveWell Initiatives – a social enterprise creating shared value on Tuesday held its inaugural Extraordinary Women Advancing Healthcare Awards tagged: “#EWAHAFRO2022”.
Speaking ahead of the event to showcase the inaugural African honorees in Lagos, during a virtual media parley, the Chairperson of EWAH’s Advisory Board and the Chief Executive Officer of JNCI Ltd, Mrs. Clare Omatseye said it is the premier award across Africa to recognise and bring awareness at a broader level to 10 amazing emerging women healthcare leaders.
Omatseye who doubles as Vice President of the African Healthcare Federation said the women represent diverse sectors of healthcare.
“What they all have in common is their ‘miles-to-go mindset’ impacting innovating health care and fostering inclusivity, inspiring and mentoring others not only in their country but potentially across the region and even globally.”
Speaking, the Chief Executive Officer of LiveWell Initiative and Regional Representative for EWAH Awards Africa, Dr Bisi Bright explained that the main purpose of the #EWAHAFRO2022 Awards is to raise national and international recognition of these emerging, dynamic healthcare leaders.
“The event aims to give visibility to the work of these leaders, to help them continue to build invaluable cross-sector networks and partnerships, and to encourage them to achieve even further impact and innovation and to inspire others in the healthcare system,” she added.
She explained that the programme will help to strengthen health systems, through impact and direction; and to bring to the fore Diversity, Inclusiveness, Innovation, and a ‘Miles-to-go’ Mindset.
She added that although the healthcare system has more women than men working in it, the top roles and recognitions and dominated by men, EWAH aimed to help bring greater parity in such leadership.
“We want, through EWAH Awards, to get more women to the top across all sectors of healthcare, and to help them build important cross-sector networks that will be even more impactful in the future.”
The EWAH Africa Matron of Honour and Chair Steering Committee in the USA, Barri Blauvelt, who was pleased that the first EWAH event outside of the USA was in collaboration with LiveWell Initiative, encouraged more women to do more in the Healthcare space so as to build a global alliance of formidable women who are advancing healthcare into the future.
Immediate Past President of the British Business Group, Sir Stanley Evans MBE stated that commented:” The EWAH Awards differ from most conventional awards, as the awardees do not necessarily need to be healthcare professionals themselves.
“The programme nominates and then selects 10 women who are impactful, across diverse sectors of health care, from public health and policy to community health education and leadership, and from academia and research through healthcare industry manufacturing and distribution.
“For example, the Awards will honour among its winners a low literacy community health leader, two University Vice Chancellors, a low-income healthcare worker from Northern Nigeria, a Nigerian CEO of a multinational pharmaceutical corporation, and a First Lady who is a paediatrician with interest in oncology.”
The award is to significantly raise recognition of the amazing work being led by extraordinary women across diverse sectors of the African healthcare system and elsewhere, creating a new awakening, and ‘Call to Action for women to become leaders of healthcare, not only in Africa but around the globe.
“It is also aimed at bringing visibility and impact for new and expanded career prospects for women in healthcare and diverse sectors’ leadership. It is believed that this will strengthen health systems, particularly, through the education and advancement of more women in the healthcare workforce at all levels of the organization, in alignment with the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals, primarily SDG 3 and SGD 5.”
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