This year’s Reaching the Last Mile (RLM) Forum which took place in United Arab Emirates brought the global health community to the United Arab Emirates for the event. The Forum which brought together stakeholders from government, private sector, philanthropy, and academia had attendance from participants from over 80 countries of the world. With the theme; “Accelerating the Pace” the Forum emphasized the importance of how investing in global health is an effective way of protecting communities from infectious diseases, ending emerging health threats, and achieving greater global prosperity is under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi.

During The Heroes From the Field Session, which acknowledges and celebrates men and women whose efforts have helped address health challenges across the world, Nigeria’s Rita Oguntoyinbo, an innovative leader and community health champion based in Nigeria spoke on her work in providing treatment for neglected tropical diseases (NTDs). NTDs are a group of parasitic and bacterial infectious diseases affecting more than 1.5 billion of the world’s population, with more than 133 million people in need of treatment in Nigeria..

Read also: There Are Now Over 41.543 Million Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises In Nigeria

Having been resilient in the face of adversity, Ms. Oguntoyinbo detailed her journey as a frontline healthcare worker who found passion in expanding health care delivery to others. Since 2015, her work at the Amen Foundation, has enabled her to collaborate with other partner organizations in providing treatment to more than twenty-two million people in Nigeria – specifically, Gombe and Osun states.

Read also: West African Countries to Adopt Technology for Disease control

While addressing the crowd, Ms. Oguntoyinbo noted that “these treatments have had a significant impact by improving school attendance of children who had previously been prevented from going to school due to intestinal worms. People generally have become healthier and wealthier because the distribution of medicines has prevented sickness from NTDs”.

Kelechi Deca

Kelechi Deca has over two decades of media experience, he has traveled to over 77 countries reporting on multilateral development institutions, international business, trade, travels, culture, and diplomacy. He is also a petrol head with in-depth knowledge of automobiles and the auto industry.