The 24th National President of the Medical Women’s Association of Nigeria (MWAN), Prof. Rosemary Ogu, has endorsed Daravit Woman, a nutritional supplement designed to support women’s health and well-being.
Prof. Ogu made the endorsement on Tuesday during MWAN’s 24th Biennial Conference held in Kaduna, with the theme, ‘Global Health, Ethics and Transformative Leadership in a Changing World’.
The conference brought together women doctors from across the country to discuss pressing health challenges confronting Nigerian women, including maternal mortality, malnutrition, and the migration of medical professionals.
According to her, Nigerian women continue to suffer disproportionately from nutritional deficiencies that contribute to pregnancy complications, anaemia, and poor maternal outcomes.
She noted that supplements such as Daravit Woman could play a role in bridging these gaps.
Earlier in his remarks, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Tajudeen Abbas, urged women doctors to champion solutions to Nigeria’s worsening maternal mortality crisis and the mass migration of medical professionals.
The Speaker who was represented by Director-General, National Water Resources Institute, Abduljalal Danbaba lamented that despite Nigeria’s population of over 218 million, the country had only about 74,000 registered medical doctors in 2022, a ratio of one doctor to 10,000 patients, far below the World Health Organization’s standard of one doctor to 600 patients.
“As of 2023, the United Kingdom alone had over 12,000 Nigerian doctors. The United States, Canada and Germany are also leading destinations. This brain drain is having a profound effect on our health indices,” he said.
Abbas described the rising maternal mortality rate as “deeply disturbing,” stressing that women, who make up a marginal majority of the population, bore the heaviest burden.
Also, the Special Adviser to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on Public Health, Dr. Salma Anas, said Nigeria’s health sector is undergoing significant reforms under the administration’s Renewable Health Agenda, which seeks to transform healthcare delivery and reposition the country for better outcomes.
She noted that the agenda is already driving reforms such as the National Health Sector Reform Initiative and the adoption of a sector-wide approach to ensure resources are maximized for greater impact.
She stressed the link between health, ethics, security, and leadership, warning that without transformative leadership, Nigeria cannot achieve universal health coverage.