CNN honours Adadevoh, Adichie, #BringBackOurGirls campaigner

Interesting......American satellite television channel, Cable News Network, has described the late consultant physician and endocrinologist, Dr. Ameyo Adadevoh, as one of the most inspiring women of 2014.

Adadevoh was credited for halting the spread of the Ebola Virus Disease in Nigeria by restraining the Liberian-American, Patrick Sawyer, who brought the deadly disease to the country.

The CNN profiled the late physician on a list of leading women it described as “extraordinary women and remarkable professionals” who excelled and stood out for their accomplishments in the outgoing year.

Although Adadevoh did not make the final 15-man shortlist which the CNN crowned its “Leading Women of 2014,” the cable news channel hailed her for being outstanding out of hundreds of women nominated across a wide range of professions worldwide.

“The Nigerian doctor died this year after overseeing the treatment of Ebola patient, Patrick Sawyer. Her efforts prevented the wider spread of Ebola in Nigeria,” the CNN wrote in her citation. She was listed among global women leaders, such as Myanmar Nobel Prize winner, Aung San Suu Kyi and Liberian President, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf.

Also, co-founder of the #BringBackOurGirls movement, Hadiza Bala-Usman, appeared in the Humanitarian category of the listing.

She was described as an “activist and initiator of the protest movement” that requested the release of the over 200 pupils of Government Girls’ Secondary School, Chibok abducted by Boko Haram insurgents.

The news network credited Bala-Usman for initiating the campaign, which drew global attention to the plight of the kidnapped girls and led to the spread of the movement “worldwide.”

But CNN crowned prominent Nigerian writer, Chimamanda Adichie and Pakistani girl-child campaigner, Malala Yousafzai, alongside 13 other women as its Leading Women of 2014.

The other women who made the “final shortlist” were English actress of the Harry Potter fame, Emma Watson; Stanford University Professor of Mathematics, Dr. Maryam Mirzakhani; Public Protector of South Africa, Thuli Madonsela, among others.

CNN described Adichie as a writer who painstakingly drew attention to African literature throughout her award-winning career.

Earlier, Adichie, had been nominated for the Forbes’ Africa Person of the Year Award as well as Personality of the Year in the 2014 MTV Africa Music Awards.

“CNN set out on a hunt to find the women who excelled in their professions in 2014. We wanted to know which women you felt deserved an accolade for their achievements this year and turned to our readers, partners, and organizations we’ve worked with this year to find out. The women with the most votes have been crowned our “Leading Women of 2014,” the CNN explained on its website .

Meanwhile, the Dr. Ameyo Stella Adadevoh Health Trust on Tuesday welcomed the late consultant’s recognition by the CNN via its Twitter page.

The health trust rededicated its vision to engender a first-class sustainable healthcare system in Nigeria by delivering high-quality services to the entire population as a way of immortalising the ideals of the late physician.

The health initiative promised via its website, drasatrust.org, to provide medical equipment and supplies for proper diagnosis and treatment of illness and disease, as well as assisting in the prevention of outbreaks or epidemics and to support measures for handling such events.

“The Trust is a registered nonprofit created to continue Dr. Adadevoh’s legacy and provide support and funding to advance Nigeria’s healthcare system.

“The Trust works through collaboration and partnership with organisations and associations committed to its main objectives and owns and manages an endowment fund which is open to individual and institutional contributions,” the trust, which has Adadevoh’s son, Bankole Cardoso, as Board of Trustees Chairman, said.

The group also raised the alarm on what it described as the rising cases of diabetes in Africa and promised to collaborate with the authorities in halting the trend.

“Did you know that Nigeria has the highest number of diabetics in Africa? Dr. Ameyo Stella Adadevoh was an endocrinologist with a lot of experience and interest in diabetes.

“Her thesis during her Fellowship at Hammersmith Hospital (Imperial College United Kingdom) was on diabetes,” the health trust said on its Facebook page.