Adanna Opara and Mauren Moneke (Lead Writers)
In a world where health policy conversations all too often begin with data and end with budget lines, it is easy to forget that the people most affected by health system failures are not statistics, but real people with lived experiences and an urgent need for improved healthcare.
For women, these stories are often shaped by their experiences in accessing healthcare during pregnancy, childbirth and post natal. However, women’s voices and stories are hardly factored into strategy documents or policy blueprints.
The Celebrating Womanhood Art Gala has been positioned over the years to tell these stories and amplify women’s voices through various forms of art. Held every two years, the Gala is an innovative advocacy platform that uses creative expressions such as art exhibition, poetry, music, fashion, sculpture, painting, and more to spotlight the journey of women through the lens of health. It creates a space where the realities of women’s health in Nigeria can be visualised.
In 2021, this initiative recognised the unique power of art to foster empathy, highlight untold stories and drive action, conceptualised as a #HealthMeetsArt event. The second edition held in 2023 themed “Elevating Women’s Voices for Quality Maternal Healthcare” spotlighted the importance of incorporating women’s voices and preferences into maternal health care design, delivery and policy.
In March 2025, Nigeria Health Watch hosted the third edition of the Celebrating Womanhood Art Gala supported by MSD for Mothers and The Gates Foundation in collaboration with the National Gallery of Art (NGA) and the Female Artists Association of Nigeria (FEAAN). The theme “Her Strength in Every Story: Creative Expressions for Women’s Health,” provided an atmosphere for a vibrant fusion of artistic innovation and health advocacy. The event brought together leaders, artists, health professionals, storytellers, and policymakers beyond the health sector to amplify the voices of women and inspire meaningful action for improved health outcomes for women.
Women’s Voices in shaping Health and Economic Development
Introductory speakers, Vivianne Ihekweazu, Managing Director of Nigeria Health Watch, Iyadunni Olubode, Lead of Nigeria & Kenya Programs, and Dr. Zainab Bagudu, Founder & CEO, MedicAid Cancer Foundation, underscored the urgent need for people from all sectors to prioritise women’s empowerment for improved health outcomes.
With women being the “Chief Health Officers of their families, and mostly responsible for care and nutrition of the family, economically empowering them, will mean more access to informed choices and decisions about their health and that of their family as well as better access to quality healthcare. Investing in women’s health is therefore not only a moral imperative but a macroeconomic necessity.
When art becomes evidence
The art exhibition took the form of paint and texture pieces, each curated piece representing a maternal experience, capturing the tension between joy and trauma, and silence and survival.
Dr. Ngozi Akande, Visual Artist and Secretary of FEAAN’s Board of Trustees, leading the walkthrough with Maryam Maigida, the president of FEAAN, explained that “art communicates emotionally. It tells truths speeches often cannot.”
Another session of the art gala was the “Walk with Her” fashion show which extended this creative storytelling into motion. Curated by creative strategist Jeffrey Bent, the runway was a procession of maternal journeys, each garment speaking of birth, loss, survival, and cultural pride. “When you give a woman a seed, she makes a garden,” Bent said, emphasising that fashion can be activism in fabric form.
Estiejakes, a fashion designer’s collection, “Beyond the Veil,” tackled postpartum depression, using sheer textiles to depict the invisible emotional battles mothers face. Sozo’s “Rays of Her” honored single mothers, with structured garments that conveyed both weight and grace. Sultana’s “Earth, Woman, Creation” reminded us that womanhood is elemental. It is the soil from which humanity grows.
Designers Aisha Abu-Bakr and Nibras turned the spotlight on women artisans in Northern Nigeria, weaving economic empowerment into their collections. Their work reinforced a crucial point that when women are economically empowered, they are more likely to access care and influence policy.
If the art whispered, and fashion walked, the spoken word session bellowed, leading with a performance titled “Her Power” which traced a woman’s journey through of birthing life. Other spoken word pieces titled “Clairvoyance of today” and “Her smile begins” amplified the interventions of MSD for Mothers’ collaborators, who are working to improve maternal health outcomes in Nigeria.
A tribute to a woman who died from postpartum hemorrhage, titled “Grief Has No Language,” served as a heartbreaking reminder that maternal mortality is not a statistic, but the stories of real people. The art gala also featured a live vocal performance setting the tone for reflection and celebration. As the music filled the room, a live art painting session unfolded on stage bringing the evening’s themes to life with every brushstroke and layer of colour.
Canvas Conversations with key maternal health stakeholders
A panel session, Canvas Conversations, grounded the artistic narratives in the real-world work of transforming Nigeria’s maternal health landscape.
Dr. Adanna Steinacker, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Women’s Health, affirmed that for the first time in Nigeria’s history, a federal office has been established specifically to champion women’s health, signalling a political commitment to change. She emphasised that women’s health is not solely a government responsibility, everyone should be part of the conversation.
Dr. Iniofo Iyang, sexual and reproductive health expert — SWAP Coordinating office, speaking on the Maternal and Neonatal Mortality Reduction Innovation Initiative (MAMII), detailed how transport vouchers, trained Community Health Influencers, Promoters and Services (CHIPs), and health facility mapping are closing access gaps for women in underserved communities. Similarly, Dr. Olasunmbo Makinde shared how Project Aisha, an MSD for Mothers’ initiative for Strengthening Systems for Safer Childbirths (S3C) in Nigeria has improved maternal health in Lagos and Kaduna by empowering communities, training providers, enhancing referrals, and supporting safer Traditional Birth Attendant practices, achieving a 40% reduction in maternal mortality.
The project aims to reduce maternal deaths and obstetric complications by addressing the systematic drivers of maternal deaths at three levels targeting the community, facility and health system. She reminded the audience that respectful care is not a luxury, but a right that can restore women’s trust in the health system.
Polly Alakija, CEO, Five Cowries Arts Education Initiative highlighted that art is not a luxury in health spaces but a tool for co-creation, reflection, and social accountability. The conversation was followed by the grand reveal of a hand-embroidered tapestry crafted by participants of the Furanni programme implemented via a partnership between Five Cories and Nigeria Health Watch. This master piece was designed depicting bold visual narratives of various components of women’s sexual and reproductive health.
From witnessing to action
Storytelling without action is merely performance. Princess Jumia Edonije, representing the Minister of Women Affairs emphasised that the awareness raised and the momentum built at the gala must not end there but should translate advocacy into policies, policies into action, and action into measurable impact.
Crashing maternal mortality in Nigeria will involve action to:
· Institutionalise women’s voices in health policy design at all levels: There is a need to strengthen women’s leadership in governance structures and integrate women’s voices in decision making at all levels. Reducing maternal mortality requires that women are not only consulted but actively involved in shaping health policies.
- Invest in respectful, equitable, and culturally responsive care: Access to respectful maternal care is the fundamental right of every woman, not a privilege reserved for women in certain geographical locations. Trainings for health care providers should continue to emphasise the importance of respectful and dignified care and these standards should be enforced at health facilities across all levels of care to improve women’s experience accessing care at these facilities.
- Support and invest in girl child education and women’s economic empowerment: Educational and economic empowerment are interlinked drivers of improved health-seeking behaviour. Their integration into national development strategies is essential for sustained positive maternal and child health outcomes.
- Fund the arts as a form of health advocacy and social accountability: Creative expressions whether through visual art, spoken word performances, poetry or music is not just a soft advocacy tool but a hard strategy for system change. Through art we amplify the strength of women, both past and present, while spotlighting the urgent need for change.
- Include women’s lived experience not just in events, but in everyday decisions: To improve maternal health, we must listen to women’s perspectives and experiences before, during and after childbirth, and design health systems around their real needs. Women’s experience of care and recommendations for improved care curated from these events should be incorporated in the standard maternal care package.
Women’s stories are not waiting for an applause. They are looking to shift systems.