NAFDAC DG, Ndili, others receive EWAH honours for excellence

Despite constituting nearly 68 per cent of the global healthcare workforce, women remain significantly under-represented in leadership and decision-making positions, prompting stakeholders to call for affirmative policies to bridge the gap and build more inclusive healthcare systems.

Stakeholders in the health sector stated this in Lagos during the 2026 Extraordinary Women Advancing Healthcare (EWAH) Awards, where policymakers, healthcare professionals, regulators, development partners, and industry leaders gathered to celebrate women making exceptional contributions to healthcare across Africa.

Live Well Initiative (LWI) and the Sustainability Centre of the Global Public Health University (GPHU), in collaboration with Innovara Inc., USA, and the EWAH Nigeria Board, which organised the third edition of the awards presentation event, underscored the importance of inclusive leadership while recognising women that are advancing innovation, pharmaceutical regulation, healthcare financing, philanthropy, as well as strengthening community health systems.

The Regional Representative of EWAH Africa, Dr Bisi Bright, in her opening address, said the initiative was created not only to recognise exceptional women making measurable contributions to healthcare but also to draw attention to the leadership gap that persists across the sector.

Bright said that although women account for more than 67.7 per cent of the global healthcare workforce and remain the backbone of healthcare delivery, they occupy only a fraction of leadership positions.

She described the disparity as a structural challenge that requires deliberate policy interventions and sustained institutional support.

Also, Chairman of the EWAH Advisory Board, Clare Omatseye, in her welcome address, described EWAH as a growing continental movement committed to strengthening healthcare systems through inclusive leadership.

She stressed that healthcare leadership must remain people-centred because every policy decision and investment ultimately affect patients and communities.

Omatseye also advocated stronger collaboration between men and women in leadership, warning that excluding women from decision-making ultimately weakens healthcare systems.

The Global Matron and Founder Emeritus of EWAH, Prof. Barri Blauvelt, who is also the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Innovara Inc., USA, called for sustained investment in women-led healthcare leadership, saying that such investments are necessary to accelerate improvements across the healthcare sector.

Director-General of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Prof. Mojisola Adeyeye, was honoured for strengthening pharmaceutical regulation and improving medicine safety in Nigeria while Founder of Elin Group Limited, Dr Elizabeth Jack-Rich, received recognition for her healthcare, educational and humanitarian interventions through the Elizabeth Jack-Rich Aid Foundation.

Also honoured were Founder of Pathcare/SYNLAB Nigeria and Chairman of The Bridge Clinic, Dr Pamela Jackson-Ajayi, for advancing diagnostic and fertility care, and President of the Healthcare Federation of Nigeria (HFN) as well as Nigeria Country Director for PharmAccess, Dr Njide Ndili, for her contributions to healthcare financing, digital health and universal health coverage.

Ndidi, while speaking after receiving her award, dedicated the recognition to the teams behind the achievements, saying that meaningful progress in healthcare is driven by collaboration rather than individual accomplishment.

She said that to achieve inclusive healthcare leadership requires deliberate policies, sustained investment and collective commitment to ensuring more women occupy leadership positions across the sector.