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| Cross section of participants including technocrats, school administrators/teachers, health practitioners, top civil servants, civil society representatives, media, personnel, and students in this year's WOW Conversation held in Awka Anambra State |
By Uche Chukwu, Onitsha
A non-governmental organization, Worldwide Organisation of Women (WOW) Africa has organized a Conversation during which period stakeholders to grew their weight behind granting more health services access to women.
The event which has as it's theme, "Healthy Women,Sustainable Society," has as it's highlights the award of business grants to four members of the WOW community, distribution of food crop seedlings to participants, giveaways, dance performances, conviviality sessions, as well as a symbolic tribute and one-minute silence in honour of a deceased team WOW member, Dame Tessy Udemezue-Okoye.
Welcoming the participants, the founder of WOW Africa, Chief Dr. (Mrs.) Carol Ugochukwu pointed out that only sustained advocacy for the non-violation of rights of women could guarantee quality, adequate, regular and affordable healthcare. Represented by the Secretary of WOW Africa,, Mrs Ngozi Chukwujekwu, the founder said that she has championed the actualization of the mission for many decades including attending in 1995,the Fourth World Conference on Women as one of Nigeria's delegates at the Beijing Conference. Ugochukwu who is also the Chief Executive Officer of the organization observed: "For a sustainable society, she implored stakeholders to address the systems that continue to fail women and prioritise women's well-being."
"The truth is simple: a society cannot thrive while its women are struggling to survive."
"What does that struggle look like?
"It looks like a mother sacrificing her own meals so her children can eat.
She uncovered oddities against women who, she revealed have had "to struggle with traveling long distances to healthcare centres that lack medicine, staff, or electricity," adding, "it looks like women carrying overwhelming responsibilities without rest, support, or time to care for their own well-being.
She charged policy makers "to recognise that unpaid care work is real work and that chronic exhaustion among women is a serious public health crisis... Women's voices can no longer be dismissed as mere complaints or noise."
In a thought-provoking message on "The Future", read by the Media Director of WOW Africa and Programme's Anchor, Dr. Ify Aronu, and co-presented with two students of Capital City Secondary School, Awka, on behalf of WOW Executive Director, Attorney Amaka Akudinobi, emphasised that "the future for African women and girls must be better than that of their mothers and grandmothers."
She mooted the idea of creating a future "by nurturing and supporting one another, listening with compassion, sharing knowledge and opportunities, and working together to eliminate harmful cultural practices that threaten the health, dignity, welfare, and well-being of women and young girls."
. Harping in the theme of the conference, In his address on the theme of the conference which he described as apt, the Keynote Speaker and former Commissioner for Health, Dr. Joe Akabuike advanced statistical indices to buttress discriminatory factors affecting wonen's accessibility to wellness. Akabuike, who is a renowned gynecologist observed that a health-conscious disposition and healthy lifestyle could improve the life expectancy of Nigerian women from the current 55.8-year mark, urging women to prioritise regular medical check-ups and inculcate positive values in their children for a better society.
Speaking on "Marital Health and Responsibility," the Director of the Centre for Gender Studies, Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University, Prof. Njideka Ebisi drew attention to major causes of maternal mortality among Nigerian women, including reproductive health challenges, communicable diseases, and gender-based violence. She advised women to focus on increasing their happiness index in order to forestall terminal health conditions and premature death.
In a goodwill message, the Head of Service of the Anambra State Government, Barr. Ngozi Anuli Iwouno decried social practices that undermine women's development, considering their defining role in home building, describing women as the beacons of society. Also speaking, a women's development advocate, Mr. Chris Molokwu stressed on the need for health consciousness among women.
The other presentations included "Cultural Norms vs Women's Health" by social worker and founder of Davina Care Foundation, Yohanna Rachael, and "Mental Health Awareness" by Chinenye Ilona, a Certified Sexual Assault Trauma Counsellor at Ntasi Centre, Enugwu-Ukwu.
Cross Section of participants in the 2026 WOW Conversation in Awka, Anambra State