A number one voice towards baby marriage and an advocate for girls’s rights and well being, Nollywood actress and filmmaker Stephanie Okereke Linus makes use of her platform to empower and heal ladies. Impressed by a real story, her movie “Dry” sheds mild on Vesicovaginal fistula (VVF), a devastating childbirth damage impacting women and girls in northern areas of Nigeria. By way of her basis, Prolonged Fingers, Stephanie supplies medical care to ladies affected by VVF and advocates for change. Her dedication has been recognised with prestigious awards just like the Miriam Makeba Award for Excellence in 2017 and the Past the Tears Humanitarian Award for her work towards rape and VVF.
From 2017 – 2020, she served because the regional ambassador on maternal and reproductive well being for the United Nations Inhabitants Fund (UNFPA), the place she advocated for maternal and reproductive well being, and younger folks’s rights to succeed in their potential.
Nonetheless in recognition of her excellent contributions to social activism and influence via her work, Stephanie was lately honoured with the Lennox Ok. Black Worldwide Prize for Excellence in Medication by Thomas Jefferson College. Named after Lennox Ok. Black, a Canadian manufacturing government recognized for his philanthropic efforts and repair on numerous boards together with that of Thomas Jefferson College, the Lennox Ok. Black Worldwide Prize for Excellence in Medication recognises people who’ve made important contributions to the medical discipline, selling scientific discovery and developments.
The award celebrates excellence in medical innovation and contribution to well being and medication, and Stephanie Linus, is famend for her activism and impactful work in areas regarding ladies’s well being and rights, together with her efforts to fight points like fistula and gender-based violence, which has been instrumental in bringing about social change via her movies and campaigns. Her work extends past borders, affecting lives and insurance policies internationally, embodying the spirit of the Lennox Ok. Black Worldwide Prize.
This award makes her the primary black recipient of the award. On receiving the award, Linus expressed her gratitude and reaffirmed her dedication to utilizing her platform for social good, “This recognition goes past me; it’s for all the ladies and women on the market who’re combating for a more healthy, safer world. It amplifies our message and our work. It strengthens my resolve to proceed advocating for gender equality, social justice, and improved maternal and reproductive well being in Africa.”
The interim president of Thomas Jefferson College, Susan C. Aldunge, expressed her admiration, saying, ‘It was our honour to recognise the outstanding contributions you’ve made as an advocate for gender equality and social justice. Your potential to teach whereas humbly addressing the cultural obstacles impeding progress for younger ladies is commendable. Your clever, private tackle the required modifications in human rights has made a deep influence on all of us fortunate sufficient to come across you. Congratulations as soon as extra on this well-deserved award and the acknowledgement of your efforts.”
Watch her obtain the award right here:
See extra images from the occasion:
