By ‘Dotun Akintomide
The Wife of the Senate President and Founder, Wellbeing Foundation Africa, Her Excellency, Mrs Toyin Saraki, is to deliver the opening address at the 8th Africa Conference on Sexual Health and Rights in Johannesburg, South Africa, Wednesday (14th February, 2018).
Mrs Saraki who was invited to speak on the topic: “Advancing Sexual and Reproductive Health for Women and Girls” will start off discussion at the conference themed: “Woman Up” with the aim of building on the recommendations, opportunities and challenges arising from a number of global and continental instruments, commitments and roadmap on sundry issues affecting female reproductive health.
Recommendations and interventions on the critical discuss include the Maputo Plan of Action, Africa Health Strategy, African Union Agenda 2063, UN Secretary General’s Global Strategy For Women’s, Children’s and Adolescent Health, Sustainable Development Goals Agenda 2030; Campaign on Accelerated Reduction of Maternal Mortality in Africa (CARRMA); African Union Roadmap on Harnessing Demographic Dividend and the Catalytic Framework to End AIDS; TB, and Malaria in Africa by 2030.
Mrs Saraki, who additionally serves as Global Goodwill Ambassador for the International Confederation of Midwives (ICM), will also participate on the UNFPA-hosted Panel of Discussion “Midwifery Workforce: The Critical Pathway to Advancing Universal Access to Sexual and Reproductive Health in Africa”.
At the conference, Mrs Saraki will be speaking alongside global health and rights leaders, including H.E. Graca Machel, UNFPA Executive Director Natalia Kanem, UNWomen Executive Director H.E Phumzile Mlambo Ngucka, Honorable Professor Gyan Baffour, Minister of Planning Ghana, African Union Commissioner H.E. Sarah Anyang-Agbor, and H.E, Jayathma Wickramanayake, Youth Envoy to the United Nations Secretary General, as well as coordinators of national, regional, and global development agencies.
