Meet Adebisi Bidemi Adenipekun

MEET ADEBISI

Adebisi Bidemi Adenipekun is a youth advocate committed to improving the health and well-being of young people, especially girls and rural/slum dwellers. He is the leader of Lighthouse Global Health Initiative, a burgeoning initiative with a mission to encourage and empower vulnerable populations to lead productive and healthy lives. Through this platform, Adebisi and his team have implemented successful public health campaigns which include the “Rural Empowerment and Health Promotion Project” (REHP-Project) for rural dwellers, and “Your Health First Campaign” targeted at empowering domestic workers. Adebisi trained as a pharmacist at Obafemi Awolowo University, Nigeria.

AWARDS AND ACHIEVEMENTS

Adebisi was recognized by Johns Hopkins University School of Public Health/Bill and Melinda Gates Institute in 2013 through a scholarship to attend the Third International Conference on Family Planning. He was also invited to join the National Technical Working Group on Adolescent Health and Development in Nigeria. As a member of the working group, he was part of the team that developed the “National Training Manual on Peer-To-Peer Youth Health Education” and he was a technical advisor on the Federal Ministry of Health’s the Peer-to-Peer Project.

Adebisi is one of the selected 200 inspiring young people under the age of 30 who are working for health and well-being of girls and women across the world in the Women Deliver Young Leaders Program. As a Young Leader, he represented Women Deliver at the inaugural summit on accountability for Reproductive, Maternal, Neonatal, Child and Adolescent Health (RMNCAH) which brought over 200 public and private sector stakeholders in health and development together to incorporate the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) into the Nigeria’s efforts to ensure the accountability of life-saving healthcare delivery for marginalized women, newborns, children, and youth. Also, Adebisi was recently announced as one of the 2016 World Contraception Day ambassadors.

Adebisi’s interview on family planning voices (#FPVoices) made it to the top 5 most engaging posts according to FP2020’s followers on social media. On this year’s World Contraception Day, his article on “Changing Rural Maternal and Child Health through Access to Contraception” was published on the blog of Maternal Health Task Force (MTHF) of Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

INSPIRATION

Bisi believes that it was his exposure to the life and teaching of Jesus Christ as an adolescent and the instruction of Jesus to let his light shine that all may see the good works and glorify God in heaven that has motivated him to leverage on his training and experience to advocate for health and well-being of vulnerable populations. He strongly believes that whatever can be done to prevent death and improve quality of life of people at both individual and population level is worth the investment.

FOR THE YOUNG PHARMACIST

Adebisi strongly desires that Nigerian young pharmacists will dare to make deliberate efforts to solve national problems and contribute to national development.

“High maternal mortality ratio, inequality in access to healthcare, fake and counterfeits products within our borders, drug hawking and open drug markets, wastage and stock-outs of essential drugs and vaccines, among other challenges present opportunities for us to proactively translate our rigorous pharmacy training to practice. As men of honor, we should join hands to build a nation where every citizen has access to quality and affordable healthcare.” – Adebisi Adenipekun