My Charity Work

I was the first woman to set up a Charitable Foundation in Fertility and Women’s health. Create Health Foundation, set up in 2000, is dedicated to the advancement of women’s reproductive health through education and research.

 

The charity has raised awareness about women’s reproductive health - from puberty to menopause - and funded research in this field. A key objective is to improve understanding of reproductive health issues and tackle this at grassroot level. In 2016 we launched the UK’s first fertility education module pilot, and the charity is campaigning for a comprehensive fertility education module to be included in the national curriculum for all pupils of secondary school age.

 

Create Health Foundation launched a report on pre-pregnancy and pregnancy experiences of BAME women in 2023 and I have been part of a group working to improve maternal outcomes for BAME women.

 

Partnering with the NHS Confederation, the charity published the UK’s first ever “Women’s Health Economics” report, including a full economic analysis of the return on investment for women’s health services in the NHS, which influenced the allocation of funding for gynaecological and obstetrics services.

 

I am a Board member of the British Red Cross, having served in senior leadership roles since 2015. My work for the charity has included increasing access to “Independent Living” service for NHS patients; improving NHS in-patient beds and discharges through the Health and Social care service; and leading research with Sir Michael Marmott, of Imperial College, on producing a “tool kit” to address health inequalities in UK regions.

 

My other work for the British Red Cross has included initiating an extensive and evidence-based campaign to increase COVID vaccine uptake in BAME communities by addressing vaccine hesitancy. I was part of a steering group to improve the quality of maternal and childcare services in refugee camps. I helped to assess applications and facilitated grants for the victims and families of the Grenfell Tower fire and terror attacks in London as a Board member of the London Emergencies Trust.

 

I have been a Director of the Walking Egg Foundation, based in Belgium, since 2012 and part of the core group for promoting global access to fertility care since 2007. I worked with colleagues to develop a new low-cost IVF treatment method, culminating in the creation of the Simplified Culture System. The peer-reviewed scientific paper on Simplified Culture System won the Professor Robert Edwards Prize as the “Best Scientific Paper” by the prestigious Reproductive Bio-Medicine Online journal in 2014.

 

I have played a key role in raising awareness about fertility and removing the stigma of female infertility in African countries. The Walking Egg Foundation successfully introduced low-cost IVF in Ghana in 2016 and the first baby was born in August 2017. There are several babies born in Ghana from this technique. More than 200 healthy babies have been born from this technique worldwide and the innovation of Low-Cost Simplified Culture System has brought joy to hundreds of couples who would have otherwise not had a chance to try for a family.

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