In marking the 5th International Day of the Girl Child, the Wellbeing Foundation Africa Founder-President HE Toyin Saraki committed to:  "partnering with government at every tier in giving every Nigerian child a health record, with digital database in the next 5 years. The more data there is, the less likely the girl and boy child will be invisible. Data will let us measure and track our progress as a country."

The Foundation also launched its premier MamaCare Adolescent Skills and Drills Handbook yesterday at the International Day of the Girl Child event which was held at the Shell Hall, Muson Center, Onikan - Lagos State, Nigeria.  The event brought together 872 girls from 30 schools in Lagos to celebrate the day and they all received copies of the handbook.

The Wellbeing Foundation Africa's new adolescent handbook is a simple and unique guide for girls from 13-19 years of age to better understand their bodies and rights, from nutrition and menstrual hygiene to financial inclusion and respectful relationships, guided by the 7 Guiding Principles of The Girl Declaration. The Foundation created the handbook to pioneer a comprehensive personal, social and health education which the national education system does not yet support.

HE Toyin Saraki opened the event with a keynote speech on the 7 Points of Invisibility of a girl child, and the social determinants that make a girl child remain invisible.  She noted that the global community should ensure that all girls are accounted and counted, and that gender data collection needs to be improved, so that Nigeria and countries alike can measure and track their real progress and development of their citizens.

Mrs Saraki who shared her life's experiences with the girls noted: "Being a girl is not a disease.  Not a curse.  Not a burden.  It is a privilege.  It is an honour bestowed not on the weakest, but the strongest, of our species.  We are the ones that bring new life to this world. Sanctify our shared humanity, and protect the very future dreams that every mother and father has held for their children since the dawn of time."

The Wellbeing Foundation held parallel Day Of The Girl PSHE workshops sessions for 2000 adolescent girls at Queen Elizabeth School Ilorin, Kwara State, and Dakwe LGA Girls School, simult0[0aneously.

The foundation pledged to partner public and private schools in training teachers as PSHE counselors, as a positive development impact initiative, to combat the ills pervading the nation's youth.

Coinciding with global stakeholders actions for girls, the launch of the Lancet's Maternal Health Series Report in London, and the launch of Plan International's new because I am a Girl report: 'Counting the Invisible'.  Other girl champions such as First Lady Michelle Obama, have also highlighted the importance of menstrual hygiene and how it can affect girls' productivity in schools.

The Wellbeing Foundation Africa also launched yesterday their call to action to improve the world for the girl child, based upon the original principles from The Girl Declaration.