Abuja, 13 March, 2025 – On 7 March 2025, the WHO Nigeria offices buzzed with energy as workers joined the world birthday celebration of International Ladies folks’s Day (IWD). The occasion supplied a meaningful replace to honour the feminine group at WHO Nigeria and reaffirm the organization’s commitment to gender equality and empowerment as vital drivers of well being for all.
This 365 days’s IWD theme, “For all females and girls; simply, equality, empowerment #AccelerateAction,” resonated deeply with WHO’s mission to obtain definite equitable obtain correct of entry to to quality healthcare, in particular for females and girls. The day used to be marked by a series of events highlighting the pivotal purpose of females in healthcare and the abnormal challenges they face in advancing well being fairness.
Recognizing Ladies folks’s Contributions
In his deal with to workers, Dr Walter Kazadi Mulombo, WHO Nation Representative in Nigeria, well-known the unheard of contributions of females within WHO and the broader well being sector. “International Ladies folks’s Day is a 2d to recognise the invaluable contributions of females across all points of society,” he stated. “As we bask in a great time the achievements of females in WHO and the well being sector, we should also acknowledge the work that remains and decide to creating a extra inclusive, equitable, and supportive surroundings for females.”
Dr Mulombo emphasised WHO’s dedication to fostering offices and communities where females’s voices are amplified, and their ability fully realised. “Investing in females’s well being and empowerment is no longer handiest a subject of fairness but a elementary prerequisite for building extra healthy and extra affluent societies. To the entire females leading, innovating, and driving trade, we search for you, hear you, and stand with you to plug action,” he added.
Voices of Empowerment
Dr Lynda Ozor, President of the WHO Nigeria Team Association and a passionate advocate for gender fairness, shared her reflections on the importance of IWD. “Ladies folks are the right architects of society,” she remarked. “I abet females to stand with and for each other. We ought to search for ourselves as collaborators, no longer opponents. These of us who’re empowered should wait on as ladders to inspire and uplift the subsequent generation of females.”
The day also featured non-public stories from female workers participants, who shared their experiences of working in well being and emergency settings. Mrs. Saratu Ayuba, a workers member at WHO’s Northeast Emergency Discipline Affirm of business in Borno Affirm, highlighted the importance of reflection and action. “International Ladies folks’s Day is a time for all americans to mirror, reinforce, and act toward a extra equal world,” she stated. “We should stand against inequality, call out discrimination, and accomplish spaces where females feel valued and heard.”
A Collective Commitment
The events included discussions, panel discussions, storytelling courses, and interactive boards where workers explored the challenges and opportunities for advancing gender equality in well being. These actions underscored WHO Nigeria’s ongoing efforts to handle systemic boundaries, corresponding to gender-basically basically based discrimination and unequal obtain correct of entry to to opportunities, that impact females’s contributions to well being programs.
The observance of IWD serves as a sturdy reminder of the collective responsibility to be definite each girl and girl can realise her full ability. By empowering females, WHO Nigeria contributes to stronger, extra healthy, and extra resilient communities, an vital step toward achieving well being for all.
Moving Ahead
WHO Nigeria remains dedicated to integrating gender equality into its programmes and operations . This includes advocating for females’s management in well being, addressing gender particular well being wishes, and supporting insurance policies that promote fairness. As section of its world and regional recommendations, WHO continues to champion initiatives fancy the Gender, Equity, and Human Rights framework to plug development toward a extra inclusive well being landscape.
The birthday celebration of International Ladies folks’s Day at WHO Nigeria used to be no longer factual a 2d of recognition but a renewed call to action. Together, workers reaffirmed their dedication to building a future where females and girls thrive, lead, and make contributions fully to the well being and prosperity of communities worldwide.
