Through the National Executive and thematic committees, MWAN has made significant strides in advancing women’s health, empowering healthcare professionals, and promoting community well-being.
Strategic Planning and Governance:
MWAN as an affiliate of the Nigerian Medical Association participated in all national meetings to align with country health goals. MWAN has held its quarterly meetings to ensure effective leadership and governance in decision-making within the organization. The last physical National Executive Council meeting was held on 16th – 17th January 2025 in Jos, Plateau State. This quarter a virtual NEC and National webinar on reducing maternal mortality under the AIM-MNCNH grant was held on 26th April 2025.
Advocacy and Policy Engagement:
MWAN engaged with both national and international organizations on advocacy, collaborations or partnerships to raise awareness on key issues, provide service, strengthen capacity or support a policy move.
– In February as part of World Cancer Day celebration, MWAN engaged stakeholders in the policy landscape on research, funding and strategic direction for reducing childhood cancers, and partnerships for improving access to care
– In March, MWAN led advocacy and community engagement efforts for a glaucoma free world focusing on the role of health workers
– In March, MWAN participated actively by hosting a parallel event at the United Nations NGOs Commission on the Status of Women (NGO CSW 69) . MWAN showcased accelerated actions to improve maternal health and also made commitments to continue pushing for gender parity. We attended the MWIA CSW Side event and use #MWIA in all our social media posts.
Through some of the projects being implemented like the AIM MNCNH, MWAN is raising champions across 16 project states for the acceleration of maternal newborn, child nutrition innovations – eg prevention of postpartum haemorrhage. All MWAN branches are aligned with the governance structure at the national level.
Capacity Building and Professional Development:
MWAN States and National committees organized training workshops and seminars to enhance the skills and competencies of members including offering CME points.
In January 2025 in our Jos NEC, we discussed scaling up of cancer control, HPV vaccination and held a multistakeholder panel on impact of economic and environmental stressors on women’s health.
MWAN also had webinars on combating cardiac arrest with erudite facilitators from cardiology, anaesthesia and emergency medicine to build our capacity on life saving skills
In February focus was given to paediatric oncology, overview, burden and advances in management
Community Outreach and Health Promotion:
MWAN has been actively involved in raising awareness about critical health issues such as maternal mortality, child health, infectious diseases, dental care, and non-communicable diseases such as Diabetes, Hypertension, endometriosis, breast and prostate cancer. WHO and UN Commemorative Days are leveraged for health promotion and education. All our MWAN state branches have carried out medical outreaches, screening and treating thousands of beneficiaries. Cervical Cancer awareness month, World Cancer Day, Prematurity Day, FGM Day, UHC Day on Dec 12th and IWD on March 8th were widely celebrated across the states.
Collaboration and Partnership:
MWAN partnerships with government agencies, NGOs, and international organizations have been nurtured in this quarter. Our partnership with funders and other organizations such as the Gates Foundation, SOGON, Jhepigo, Pathfinder, ACEPHAP, CCSI, HRSC, NPHCDA at state and federal level, ministries of health, community leaders and media outlets such as the Grace Impact Radio have kept MWAN consistently raising the bar in awareness creation, sensitization and service delivery on sundry health concerns.
Research and Innovation:
MWAN wrote and submitted an expression of interest for 8 grant opportunities in the period under review. We are currently implementing the Pathfinder HPV Prevention project, HSRC project on MMR vaccination, AIM MNCNH Project, aspects of which have been presented at the WACP and SOGON conferences and published in PubMed.
We are commencing implementation of a Ford Foundation grant to eliminate FGM in Rivers State, Nigeria using implementation science, research and development. Hopefully findings can be scaled to other parts of the country.
Specific Events: Outreach Committees Maternal & Child health, Adolescent Health, Women’s Health, Dental & Oral Health as well as Gender Based Violence have all had activities commemorating relevant world health days. Thousands of women and children have been impacted through medical outreaches, health education, service delivery and sundry engagements as we commemorate all WHO / UN Health days across the nation.
March 17th – successful outing at the UN Church Centre for the Parallel event at UN NGO CSW
April 3rd – Onboarding of MWAN Exchange states on the AMPLIPPHI Project by SOGON / Jhepigo
April 17th – Inception meeting and onboarding MWAN for Ford foundation FGM intervention grant
Welfare Reports
Several MWAN members passed their various levels of exams and were promoted. Many also received political appointments and career uplift as Professors, Head of Service, Commissioners, Executive secretaries, permanent secretaries, etc
We lost some of our members across 5 states in the period under review and pray that their families and our sister branches are continually consoled.
Fig 1. Fliers of various activities carried out
Fig 2. MWAN National executive and national executive council meeting