Born in 1993, Okikiola Oladele, who recently finished from the financially troubled Ladoke Akintola University Of Technology, LAUTECH, Ogbomosho, is one of the young health professionals disrupting the world with good initiative.
Few days ago, Rutgers Women’s Health Institute proudly hosted Okikiola, who is one of this year’s Mandela Fellows, alongside Dr. Voary Velonjara from Madagascar.
According to the Institutes, Okikiola and other young health professionals are reshaping health care in their countries and “we are fortunate to have the chance to learn from them.”
Okikiola Oladele is one of the 60 young Nigerians participating in the Mandela Washington Fellowship for Young African Leaders.
He made a presentation at the Institute’s New Jersey office before diverse professionals on health care in Nigeria.
He spoke about maternal health and how important it is for Nigeria as a country to strive to maintain low indices in maternal mortality.
Okikiola talked extensively about the importance of rural health care and improving access to primary health care as a tool which his organization employs in driving sustainable change in health seeking behavior.
He has about five years experience in community engagement via volunteering work in issues pertaining to maternal and child health, adolescent sexual and reproductive health.
He currently volunteers at The Corinth’s Foundation where he heads the medical team on rural medical outreaches.
He is a team member and contributor on Kusema Africa, one of the divisions of the White Code Centre (www.whitecodecentre.org), a youth driven and youth-centric platform which is registered in South Africa and works across Africa on issues of human rights, social justice, youth empowerment, good governance and the Africa project to raise the global image of Africa and generate discussions about African issues.
Okikiola is motivated by his desire to see an improved healthcare delivery particularly to under-privileged members of the society by improving the standard of primary health care to rural communities. Okikiola believes Africa can rise above the myriads of poverty, hunger, diseases and internecine wars that seem to be the single story of Africa that dominates the global scene.
The Mandela Washington Fellowship is the flagship program of the Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI). It is composed of academic coursework, leadership training, and networking.
