The Empowering Impact of Ultrasound in Pregnancy: Wellbeing Foundation Africa and GE HealthCare Join Hands To Drive Change

PRESS RELEASE

The Empowering Impact of Ultrasound in Pregnancy: Wellbeing Foundation Africa and GE HealthCare Join Hands To Drive Change

This initiative aims to empower healthcare providers with the tools to deliver better care to expectant mothers and their unborn babies

LAGOS, Nigeria, September 27, 2023/ -- The Wellbeing Foundation Africa (WBFA) and GE HealthCare (www.GEHealthcare.in/) have taken a significant step towards improving maternal and fetal outcomes in Nigeria by signing a Strategic Cooperation Agreement (SCA) to equip midwives and nurses with the necessary knowledge and skills to effectively use ultrasound machines.

This initiative aims to empower healthcare providers with the tools to deliver better care to expectant mothers and their unborn babies. As part of this collaboration, GE HealthCare has donated eight Vscan ultrasound devices.

These compact, portable devices are well-suited for use in resource-limited settings, where accessing traditional ultrasound machines may be challenging.

The agreement was ceremonially signed by Her Excellency Mrs Toyin Ojora Saraki, Founder & President of the Wellbeing Foundation Africa, and Mr Eyong Ebai of GE HealthCare at The Sofitel Hotel on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York.

In addition to the donation, WBFA and GE HealthCare are conducting comprehensive training for nurses and midwives which will impact over 96,000 mothers this year alone. These training programs in the states of Lagos, Abuja, and Kwara, include theoretical and practical sessions. Participants will receive hands-on training on the use of the Vscan device, covering basic principles of ultrasound technology, image acquisition, interpretation, reporting, and even basic obstetric ultrasound scans.

According to the World Health Organization, the Maternal Mortality Rate in Nigeria in 2017, was estimated at 917 per 100 000 live births; it increased by nearly 14% in 2020 to reach 1047 deaths 2 with evidence suggesting that the increase in rates is due to three common signs of delay: in making the decision to seek maternal healthcare, in locating and arriving at a medical facility, and in receiving skilled pregnancy care when a woman gets to the health facility.

Her Excellency Mrs Toyin Ojora Saraki, Founder & President of the Wellbeing Foundation Africa said "This collaboration between WBFA and GE HealthCare is a significant milestone in our mission to promote the wellbeing of expectant mothers across Nigeria. With the power of ultrasound technology, we can now detect warning signs early, ensuring the health and safety of both mothers and babies. By providing Vscan devices, delivering comprehensive training, and raising awareness within communities, WBFA and GE HealthCare is working towards healthier pregnancies, safer deliveries, and brighter futures for mothers and babies across Nigeria.”

Eyong Ebai General Manager for Sub-Sahara-Africa, GE HealthCare said "We are proud to support the Wellbeing Foundation Africa in their mission to improve maternal and fetal outcomes in Nigeria. This will enable critical healthcare services in remote areas; GE HealthCare’s involvement supports our strategy in Africa to providing healthcare professionals with the latest technology, we are equipping them with the means to detect potential complications early, ultimately saving lives." 

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of GE Healthcare.

Media Contacts:

GE HealthCare 

Duraid Adnan 

duraid.adnan@ge.com 

The Wellbeing Foundation Africa

Zelia Bukhari

zelia.bukhari@wbfafrica.org

About GE HealthCare:

GE HealthCare is a leading global medical technology, pharmaceutical diagnostics, and digital solutions innovator, dedicated to providing integrated solutions, services, and data analytics to make hospitals more efficient, clinicians more effective, therapies more precise, and patients healthier and happier. Serving patients and providers for more than 100 years, GE HealthCare is advancing personalized, connected, and compassionate care, while simplifying the patient’s journey across the care pathway. Together our Imaging, Ultrasound, Patient Care Solutions, and Pharmaceutical Diagnostics businesses help improve patient care from prevention and screening, to diagnosis, treatment, therapy, and monitoring. We are an $18 billion business with 51,000 employees working to create a world where healthcare has no limits.

SOURCE

GE Healthcare

European Union (EU) Flagship Programme To End Violence Against Women Worldwide Shows Limited Impact So Far

 

PRESS RELEASE

European Union (EU) Flagship Programme To End Violence Against Women Worldwide Shows Limited Impact So Far

The €500 million Spotlight Initiative has been an ambitious attempt by the European Commission, together with the UN, to ensure that women and girls around the world live free from violence and harmful practices

LUXEMBOURG, Luxembourg, September 11, 2023/ -- Almost one third of the €500 million in EU funding for the “Spotlight Initiative” went to its management by the United Nations; The initiative did not achieve its objective of attracting additional funding from new donors; Auditors call for better value for money and note risks to the sustainability of the activities.

The €500 million Spotlight Initiative has been an ambitious attempt by the European Commission, together with the UN, to ensure that women and girls around the world live free from violence and harmful practices. However, according to a new report by the European Court of Auditors, this flagship EU programme for combating sexual and gender-based violence has shown little impact to date in terms of improving the situation of those it is intended to help. Despite positive achievements, the auditors found that the initiative could be managed more efficiently and could provide better value for money, as well as increasing the share of funding that reaches final beneficiaries to help more women and girls.

The Spotlight Initiative is a global strategic partnership between the EU and the UN to eliminate all forms of violence against women and girls in partner countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Pacific and the Caribbean. Initially launched in 2017 for a period of four years, it was extended to the end of 2023 due to delays.

“Violence against women and girls has no place in the world, and no woman or girl should be left behind,” said Bettina Jakobsen, the ECA member in charge of the report. “Through the Spotlight Initiative, the EU has put more money than ever into ending such abuse, but more should reach final beneficiaries and we still need to see more impact.”

The auditors acknowledge that the initiative has benefited women and girls globally and helped to address violence. For instance, it has supported activities to prevent violence against women and girls, such as training and awareness campaigns, and services to victims of violence in all African and Latin American countries, albeit to different degrees and with varying levels of success. However, the initiative’s set-up only allows for a limited assessment of performance. Moreover, given its short time span and the fact that data are incomplete, it has not yet been possible to measure the improvement for beneficiaries, such as victims of violence or participants in training courses, and it is difficult to assess the extent to which it has achieved its intended results. There is no evidence that violence against women and girls has fallen in the countries covered.

External and internal factors led to challenges and delays in implementation. These included not only the COVID-19 pandemic, natural disasters, and domestic political changes, but also complex governance arrangements due to the number of UN organisations involved. The Commission’s choice of the UN as its implementing partner was a political decision in support of multilateralism. However, the UN’s costs of administering the initiative totalled $155 million (i.e. 31 % of the initiative’s total budget), leaving $351 million for the implementing partners and beneficiaries. Although the EU’s executive was aware that UN involvement entailed higher costs, it did not thoroughly compare the alternatives.

Despite being the sole funder, the EU has not always been given sufficient credit for funding visibility. Moreover, although the EU’s contribution was intended as seed funding to attract additional investors, no new donors have been found, and so results may not be sustained. The auditors also stress that the programme is not long enough to create lasting change on a complex issue which requires long-term actions and additional resources.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of European Court of Auditors (ECA).

Note to Editors:

The purpose of this press release is to convey the main messages of the European Court of Auditors’ special report. The full report is available at ECA.Europa.eu.

Press contact:

ECA press office:

press@eca.europa.eu

Damijan Fišer:

damijan.fiser@eca.europa.eu

M: (+352) 621 552 224

Claudia Spiti:

claudia.spiti@eca.europa.eu

M: (+352) 691 553 547

Vincent Bourgeais:

vincent.bourgeais@eca.europa.eu

M: (+352) 691 551 502

Background:

The Spotlight Initiative is founded on the ‘Theory of Change’ and its six pillars supporting policies and legislation, institutions, prevention, services, data, and women’s movements. This approach is complemented by the “leaving no one behind” principle, including measures to focus on marginalised populations. The initiative receives EU funding of €497 million (€250 million for Africa alone), €465 million of which is managed by the UN in more than 26 countries on four continents. The remaining €32 million is managed by the EU through civil society organisations; other donors have committed only symbolic amounts. An estimated one in three women have experienced physical or sexual violence at least once since the age of 15. According to data from the Initiative, in some countries the share of people who think it is justifiable for a man to beat his partner fell in 2021, but the figure actually went up in some Latin American and African countries. In Latin America, none of the supported programmes recorded a fall in cases of femicide.

ECA special report 21/2023 “The Spotlight Initiative to end violence against women and girls – ambitious but so far with limited impact” is available on the ECA’s website (ECA.Europa.eu).

SOURCE

European Court of Auditors (ECA)

From Tractor And Equipment Nigeria To Mantrac Nigeria

From Tractor And Equipment Nigeria To Mantrac Nigeria, The Impact Remains Dependably Unsurpassable.

With what started as part of the Technical Division of the then United Africa Company in 1948, Tractor and Equipment Nigeria Limited has formidably evolved into Mantrac Nigeria Limited, a subsidiary of Mantrac/ Unatrac Group with unsurpassed world- class product lines cutting across Construction, Mining, Power Generation, Material Handling, Warehousing, Agriculture, Tires, Information Technology, and Trucks.

In the area of Mining, Mantrac Power Systems provides Caterpillar electric generators which are built to ensure uninterruptible power supply to all tough and demanding mining applications. The company also extends its service with the provision of expert engineering assistance to help OEMs integrate engines into their equipment.

In the area of marine services, Mantrac offers customers a world- class product line of high and medium speed engines for all types of ocean-going commercial and pleasure watercraft.



And for the Oil and Gas sector, from wildcatting and production drilling to well servicing and pipeline construction, Mantrac provides a comprehensive range of CAT engines for use in all aspects of the Oil and Gas Industry. Extensively, Mantrac Power System sets the standard for parts and service support, from extensive part inventories to preventive maintenance, diagnostics and emergency service – all backed by the field technicians who know the needs of their customers, and are prepared to meet them. Other incentives include Customer Support Agreements, Extended Service Coverage, Remote Monitoring Solutions and Scheduled Oil Sampling Services.

With the introduction of the Complete Knocked Down Assembly and the Canopy Factory, Mantrac has impressively promoted local content with over 100 trained professionals working tirelessly to guarantee customers’ full product support services at affordable prices. Mantrac Power Systems offers CAT engines which provide prime power to remote installations worldwide, propulsion of military vessels as well as engine power for tactical and support vehicles.
Also, Mantrac Power Systems offers a wide variety of used equipment at competitive prices. These equipment are thoroughly inspected, expertly repaired and is often backed by extended coverage options. Rental Solutions with the full range of Olympian and CAT generators to meet customers’ jobsite needs are also provided by Mantrac wherever equipment is needed to pull, push, lift, dig, shake, or pump. These engines are both diesel and gas- powered for use in different applications and for a variety of industries.

As part of its commitment to providing electric solutions for optimal efficiency in business, Mantrac offers Olympian generators from 10KVA to 220KVA and Caterpillar generators from 250KVA to 7000KVA, providing both primary and standby power. The genrators can be used to power offshore oil rigs, mines in remote areas, communities in areas far from utility power grids, hospitals, schools, factories, airports and office buildings. The engines are also designed to power trucks, ships and boats, agricultural equipment, construction and mining machines, and more.

As part of its vision to create a leading Group of profitable international businesses that provide customers with first choice value proposition, Mantrac understanding the importance of information technology and the vital role it plays in the business world have become a leading solution provider in the field of Information Technology and office equipment distribution. Through its wide distribution network, the IT Distribution business has become a multi- brand/ multi- product distributor. Today, Mantrac is a major distributor of all leading IT products including Dell, ZTE, Daewoo, Fortinet, MacAfee, Fujitsu Siemens, IBM, Lenouvu, Acer, 3COM, MGE, and Microsoft.

The product range includes desktop and laptop computers, servers, workstations, and storage systems. Mantrac also offer networking and un-interrupted power supply (UPS) solutions. These products extend to include handhelds as well as computer accessories and options.

And at the just concluded Nigeria Oil and Gas Exhibition 2011 held at International Conference Centre, Abuja, Mantrac took a centre stage with the large crowd and visitors. The exhibition attracted a huge number of upper echelon from different corporate bodies and top government officials including Honourable Minister of Foreign Affairs – Mr. odein Ajumogobia, S.A.N, Minister of FCT, Senator Bala Mohammed, and the Presidential Adviser on Petroleum, Dr. Emmanuel Egbogah who declared the NOG2011 exhibition open.

Mantrac has its operations in Nigeria, Egypt, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Ghana, Sierra Leone, Iraq and Siberia- Russia. The Group also caters for offshore customers through its export sales office in United Kingdom.