10 Nigerian Women Breaking Boundaries And Creating New Frontiers In Health Tech
Since the turn of the century, technological advancement has come under more scrutiny than ever before. Several governments and big corporations are interested in finding out more ways to improve quality of life using technology such as artificial intelligence. The medical field has not been left out of this new development. From automated collection and storage of patient records to the use of machines for mechanical ventilation, medicine is increasingly dedicated to finding more efficient ways to take care of patients.
Women have been paying more attention to medicine in the last decade and health technology is no exception. As a result, we have seen a huge wave of African women doing things that were previously thought to be impossible, too hard, or just bat shit crazy. In this article, we will be looking at 10 Nigerian women breaking boundaries and creating new frontiers in the field of health technology.
1. Dr Omolola Salako
An alumna of the College of Medicine, University of Lagos, Dr Omolola Salako is one of just 70 consultant clinical and radiation oncologists in Nigeria. Her interest in the care of cancer patients was piqued after she lost her sister to kidney cancer. She was still a medical student at the time. She started Sebeccly Cancer Care Centre in 2006 in honour of her sister, a charity to help cancer patients have easier access to high-quality care. Sebeccly’s impact on breast cancer awareness, treatment and support has reached millions of people in Nigeria and beyond. She is also the founder of the Oncopadi app, a digital oncology clinic.
It is the first digital oncology clinic in Africa to provide information and online medical consultations to cancer patients.
2. Dr Ola Orekunrin-Brown
Dr Ola Orekunrin is the brains behind the company Flying Doctors Nigeria Limited, West Africa’s premier air ambulance company. The decision to start the company came as a result of a deep personal loss to her. Her sister died as a result of sickle cell anaemia crisis that could have been managed, but for the lack of an efficient air ambulance service in Nigeria. The search for an air ambulance took her family all the way to South Africa. Unfortunately, her sister died before proper arrangements could be completed.
She has won many awards since the inception of the company in 2007, one of the most notable being the Future Award for Entrepreneur of the Year in 2012. She carries on her work with the hope that it will revolutionize healthcare in West Africa.
3. Dr Noimot Balogun
Dr Balogun is a public health communications expert and lecturer. She is the founder and Director of Programmes of LinkaNG, a healthcare relationship company utilizing research, technology and stakeholder’s agreement to improve health systems relationships. She earned a Masters in Public Health from the College of Medicine, the University of Lagos and a postgraduate diploma in Media and Communication from the Pan-Atlantic University, Lagos.
She is an Adjunct Lecturer at the Lagos State College of Health Technology where she teaches health communication and community development. After seeing people die from diseases due to a lack of accurate health information, she set out to bring health to the grassroots by using creative communication models appropriate to them. This has helped to dispel myths and reduce the distrust people have in the health system. In this way, there have been better health outcomes in these communities. Dr Balogun mentors young students to be health communicators, guiding them as they gain skills in health, technology and communication.
4. Dr Kelechi Okoro
Dr. Kelechi (Kel) Okoro is a medical doctor who is dedicated to using her social media platform to simplify health information so the masses can understand their health and take better care of it. Thus, she has dubbed herself the ‘Healthertainer’, coined from the words ‘health’ and ‘entertainment’.
Taking cognizance of the fact that a good number of Nigerians do not have internet access, she went further to launch HEAL for Africa (Health, Education and Advocacy for better Livelihood) and PATH (Pay Attention to Her/Him). HEAL for Africa carries out health advocacy in local communities. The focal point of PATH is reproductive health for young adult women, young girls, young boys and young adult men.
She has done a lot of great work helping people and has encouraged many people to start their own initiatives.
5. Ms Temie Giwa-Tubosun
Temie Giwa Tunbosun is the founder of LifeBank, a company that makes access to blood for blood transfusions easier. It was formerly an NGO called One Percent Project. The aim of the company is to end blood shortage in the country and educate people about the benefits and importance of blood donation. One Percent Project was founded in 2012.
LifeBank was founded in 2016 after the Nigerian-American realized that she had to do something to help women in Nigeria who die during childbirth as a result of excessive bleeding. Since then, her digital blood bank has saved over 4,000 lives. By using Google maps to connect blood banks to hospitals around the country Giwa-Tubosun and her team have changed the narrative for many patients in dire need of blood. Her work has been applauded by people and organizations like Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and CNN.
6. Dr Onyedikachi Chioma Nwakanma
Popularly known as Dr Zobo, Dr Chioma Nwakanma is one of the most popular health influencers of our time. She is known for her work in public health advocacy which is especially focused on preventive medicine. She founded her health advocacy company Medically Speaking in 2016.
The following year, she launched an NGO, the SMILE With Me Foundation. The NGO is the outreach arm of Medically Speaking. It is committed to partnering with organizations and causes promoting good health practices and preventive medicine and reaching out to the less privileged in the society with projects such as free or subsidized vaccinations or free screening for breast cancer.
7. Ms Abimbola Adebakin
Abimbola Adebakin is a business executive who served as the Chief Operating Officer of the Tony Elumelu Foundation. She is currently the CEO of Advantage Health Africa. Advantage Health Africa began operations fully in 2017. There are several services under the company such as the use of technology in improving access to medicines (mymedicines.com) and skills development (AHA Capacity development initiatives), to mention but a few. Advantage Health Africa is committed to improving performance in the Nigerian healthcare industry.
8. Dr Chinenye Obinwanne-Ezewike
Dr Chinenye Obinwanne-Ezewike, also called ‘The Breast Feeding Doc’ aims to help Nigerian mothers produce a substantial quantity of breast milk to breastfeed their babies exclusively. She discovered the gap between the quantity of breast milk produced and the satiety of the baby when she had her own baby. This led her to create her company called the Milk Booster. The Milk Booster produces cookies, smoothie mixes and other treats to stimulate more milk production in lactating mothers.
9. Dr Ify Aniebo Rhodes-Vivour
Dr Ify Aniebo Rhodes-Vivour is a Nigerian molecular geneticist with several degrees from prestigious institutions such as the University of Oxford, the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and the University of Nottingham. She suffered episodes of malaria as a child and grew up to study malaria drug resistance and its implications for vaccine work. She is the founding editor of the African Health magazine and the founder of Afroscientric.
Her work on these platforms involves redefining the health of the regular African and encouraging young African women to go into the field of science. As a student of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, she designed an app that can turn any mobile phone into a microscope, detect malaria from blood samples and prescribe possible sources of treatment. She received the Future Awards for Scientist of the Year and Young person of the year in 2010.
10. Dr Shakirat Saliu
Dr Saliu is a medical doctor and co-founder, Doctoora eHealth Limited, a real estate startup providing facility management for medical practice in Nigeria. She was the winner of the She Leads Accelerator Programme in 2018. Doctoora is a growing marketplace for healthcare professionals employing novel means to connect them to those in need of care with convenience, comfort and quality service.
Dr Shakirat earned her medical degree from the University of Sharjah, UAE and is committed to improving health outcomes for women and children using modern health technology and innovation.
These ten women have gone out of their way and out of their comfort zone to positively impact the world around them. We look forward to seeing more of their achievements and hope their work inspires more women to take up challenges in the health sector using technology and innovation.
