News
Letter of Gratitude: Dr. Bonface Osano. Paediatric Cardiologist, Kenya
“SACH changed my life, practice and perspective to what is possible for children with heart disease. It opened my eyes and mind to what is possible. Through SACH and Waislitz Foundation, they offered sponsorship for my training in Paediatric Cardiology in Israel.
I am now able to diagnose and manage children with heart disease in Kenya and/or refer them to the appropriate places for intervention.
Since my return to Kenya in Dec 2018, in addition to supporting patients in Kenya, SACH and the Israel Embassy in Nairobi (Kenya), have managed to take over 50 children to Israel, SACH for intervention.
Some of these patients were critical and SACH managed to give them a new lease of life.
Without Waislitz Foundation and SACH intervention and my training there, all these would not have been possible.
I am forever grateful for the opportunity SACH and Waislitz Foundation gave me in training and opening my eyes and mind.”
Update: HelpMum wins Meta AI (Llama) Innovation Grant Award!
Congratulations to our 2021 Waislitz Global Citizen Award winner Abiodun Adereni of HelpMum for being selected as one of the winners of the Meta AI (LIama) Innovation Grant Award, at the Concordia summit that took place last week in New York during the UN General Assembly. HelpMum will receive grant funding and support from Meta with their innovative AI open source model (HelpMum Vax Llama) specifically selected as one of Meta’s Llama Impact Innovation grant winners.
The HelpMum Vax-Llama model is an AI-driven open-source model designed to provide reliable and accurate information about vaccinations. Developed by HelpMum, the model leverages advanced natural language processing (NLP) techniques to assist users with vaccination-related inquiries, ensuring that the information adheres to guidelines from reputable health organizations such as the CDC, WHO, and UNICEF.
Follow the link below for this exciting announcement:
Ending poverty: Meet the Waislitz Global Citizen Award winners of 2024
2024 Waislitz Global Citizen Award
Global Citizen, the world’s leading international advocacy organization, and the Waislitz Foundation, working to create positive impact, locally and globally through innovative projects that empower individuals, today announced the winner of the 2024 Waislitz Global Citizen Grand Prize Award as Dysmus Kisilu, from Kenya. Other 2024 award recipients are Isabelle Kamariza, from Rwanda, who receives the Waislitz Global Citizen Disruptor Award and Farhana Rashid, from Bangladesh, who receives the Waislitz Global Citizen Choice Award. This year marks the tenth anniversary of the awards.
For more information on this years recipients, visit the Waislitz Global Citizen Award Page
The Australian - Interview
Tuesday, July 30th 2024
The Australian Interview with Dr Stella Mongell & Alex Waislitz – Save a Child’s Heart
‘Business’s biggest hearts save lives of littlest hearts‘
Update from HelpMum Africa
We are excited to announce that HelpMum and Behavioural Insight Team is among the 7 global organization that will receive funding totalling 12 million dollars grant from Advancing Health Online (Meta and Merck) and Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, as part of their new VaxSocial initiative..
HelpMum Africa, an African provider of award-winning digital Innovations in maternal and infant healthcare is partnering with The Behavioural Insights Team, a world leader on behavioral science and rigorous evaluation to deliver this project. The partnership will design, implement and evaluate social media interventions across several Nigerian states. This will involve developing a new behavioural and AI-informed WhatsApp vaccination chatbot, based on HelpMum’s existing work. The effectiveness of the intervention will be tested in a large field randomized controlled trial.
The Vaxsocial initiative aims to explore the role of innovative social media, AI and behavioral change interventions in helping to build confidence around routine vaccination in India, Indonesia and Nigeria, countries with some of the highest vaccination gaps.
This funding and partnership are integral to our mid-to-long-term strategy, aimed at supporting Nigeria government healthcare system through innovative approaches geared towards improving immunization outcomes
The Vaxsocial initiative fund was established by Gavi, the vaccine Alliance and Advancing Health Online ( financially supported by Merck & Co., Inc.,Rahway, NJ USA (known as MSD outside the United States and Meta) managed by Global Impact. Vaxsocial aims to support innovative solutions that utilize social media platforms to enhance vaccine confidence and uptake.
Kindly find the link to the full announcement from Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance and Advancing health online initiative ( Merck and Meta)
Update from HelpMum Africa
Dear Esteemed Partners, Supporters, and Funders,
As we take a moment to look back on the year gone by, it’s with great pride to share with HelpMum 2023 Impact Report with you. You’ll find it attached to this email. This report is more than just a document; it’s a reflection of our enduring commitment to positively impact the lives of mothers and children throughout Nigeria. Our path has been characterized by ground-breaking solutions and unwavering dedication to fill critical voids in maternal and infant healthcare in our country.
Our heartfelt thanks go out to each one of our partners for their invaluable support during the past year. We eagerly look forward to achieving even greater heights together in 2024.
Please find the HelpMum 2023 Impact Report attached. Should you have any questions or wish to discuss any aspect of the report, feel free to reach out directly to me.
Your support means the world to us.
Warmest regards,
Dr. Abiodun Adereni
Chief Executive Officer
HelpMum
2023 Waislitz Global Citizen Award
This year, hundreds of applicants applied for the Waislitz Awards, all with a deep commitment to ending the injustice of poverty and improving the living conditions of people globally. With so many incredible individuals having applied, our team of judges evaluated applicants based on five areas: global citizenship, proof of concept, disruption, scalability, and adaptability.
After months of analysis, we’re excited to announce that three winners have now been selected, receiving cash prizes, along with networking support, which will help them accelerate and scale the impact that they’re already having.
The winners of the 2023 Waislitz Global Citizen Awards are the following: Peter Njeri from Kenya as the 2023 Waislitz Global Citizen Grand Award winner; Esther Kimani, also from Kenya, as the Waislitz Global Citizen Disruptor Award winner; and Oluwafunke Adeoye, from Nigeria, as the Waislitz Global Citizen Choice Award winner.
Waislitz MegaGas Soweto Community Kitchen
“This is to let you know that through the Waislitz Global Citizen Award grant, we have been able to acquire a space that we are using to set up a new community kitchen. This new community kitchen with a 50 people capacity [ can serve up to 50 customers at once] and located in Soweto will help us to continue with our Vision of democratising access to clean energy.
We have also employed 3 community engagement scouts that are evangelising about our community kitchen. So far, that is what we have been able to do.
Kind regards,
Peter,
Mega Gas”
We are Excited to share that previous Global Citizen Winner Dr Abiodun Adereni, CEO of HelpMum has been selected to become a part of the Youth Advisory Group for World Bank on Solutions for Youth Employment (S4YE). S4YE is a global coalition formed by the World Bank, Google -Next Billion Users, Global Affairs Canada, The Rockefeller Foundation, Mastercard Foundation, Microsoft, Plan International, International Youth Foundation (IYF), Youth Business International (YBI), RAND Corporation, the International Labor Organization (ILO), the Governments of Norway, Germany, the UN Envoy for Youth, and multiple private companies (over 25 large corporations) aimed at providing catalytic support to employment and productive work for 150 million youth by 2030. We are proud of his contribution and wish him all the best.
