We are delighted to shine a spotlight on the partnership between the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH) and Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospitals Complex (OAUTHC) in Osun State, Nigeria. We sat down with Associate Professor Oluwatosin Olorunmoteni, ECD Initiative Director, Suzanna Bright Programme Manager, RCPCH, and Funmilayo Omodara, ECD Initiative, Project Coordinator, to find out more about their work and partnership with Baby Ubuntu.
Tell us about your partnership and the work you do together.
Our partnership began in 2024 through a UK Department of Health and Social Care funded grant, bringing together RCPCH’s global health expertise and OAUTHC’s deep roots in the Nigerian health system. Together, we have been working to strengthen early childhood development services in Osun State; training healthcare workers, embedding developmental screening into routine health services and building a dedicated Child Development Centre at OAUTHC, where children with neurodevelopmental disabilities can access multidisciplinary care in one place.
To date, over 292 frontline health workers have been trained, 19 primary healthcare centres are routinely delivering early childhood development (ECD) screening, and more than 11,500 children have been screened for developmental delay or disability using a novel, shortened version of the Malawi Developmental Assessment Tool called the MDAT-IDEC.
How is Baby Ubuntu involved in the work you do?
Baby Ubuntu is a core part of what we do at the Child Development Centre and has also been extended into one primary and one secondary healthcare centre. We run Baby Ubuntu as practical, hands-on sessions focused on equipping caregivers with real skills they can use at home to support their child’s development, covering topics like positioning, feeding and communication.
Can you share a moment or story from your Baby Ubuntu work that has stayed with you?
A caregiver practices supporting their child to sit using a cushion
One moment that has stayed with me as a Baby Ubuntu facilitator was hearing a caregiver share how the sessions had inspired her to become an advocate in her community. She said that whenever she notices a child showing signs of developmental delay, she approaches the parents and encourages them to seek help at the teaching hospital. She also shared that she advises pregnant women who visit her shop to pay attention to every stage of pregnancy so they can avoid some of the mistakes she made. It reminded me that Baby Ubuntu is not just about what happens during the sessions; it can empower caregivers to become advocates and make a difference in the lives of other children.
What has this work meant for the families you work with?
Baby Ubuntu has helped families become more confident and better equipped to support their children. I have seen caregivers become more aware of their children’s needs and learn simple, practical ways to support their development at home. They are also more willing to ask questions, seek help early and advocate for their children.
Many caregivers arrive at the first session feeling isolated, stigmatised and uncertain, the group setting changes that. They realise they are not alone, and their child’s condition is not caused by witchcraft or punishment. We see visible changes in both children and caregivers, often before the programme has even ended.
As a Baby Ubuntu facilitator, it is encouraging to hear how caregivers are able to apply what they learn from the sessions into daily care for their child. It shows that simple, practical knowledge can make a meaningful difference in supporting children’s development.
What are you working on at the moment?
We are excited about several new developments. We are introducing assistive technology at the centre, training our team to build standing frames and specialist seats that can be produced affordably within the hospital. We are also piloting communication boards adapted for African contexts, and we have received seed funding to establish a state-level cerebral palsy register in partnership with Cerebral Palsy Alliance Australia. And of course, we are actively seeking new funding to continue and expand our Baby Ubuntu work. With funding, our next steps will be for our master trainers to establish new facilitators at the two remaining hospitals in the State so that caregivers from these areas don’t have so far to travel to access the programme. Ultimately, we hope to then expand down to primary health centres making it even more accessible.
You are also working to influence national policy. What needs to change at that level?
Nigeria operates a devolved system, so change requires both state and national action. Through membership of the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare Child Health Technical Working Group and the Analytical Advisory Group on ECD, a multi-sectoral national body, we help ensure that disability-inclusive action is embedded into Nigeria’s developing national ECD framework. Our practical experience and technical expertise are also supporting the training of community health extension workers.
We have been fortunate to review the National Primary Healthcare Development Agency master training manual for Community Based Health Workers (CBHW) and, after careful review, have been able to add content on child development, identifying children with delays and neurodevelopmental disabilities and on counselling caregivers of children with disabilities. The Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare have ambitions to train and deploy an additional 70,000 CBHWs by 2029 and these additions could make a real difference for families across all 36 states.
What would it surprise people to know about your partnership?
Our partnership started from very humble beginnings, but we’ve never looked back. Dr Olorunmoteni first engaged with RCPCH back in 2019 when she was one of 10 successful applicants to the College’s ‘Visiting Fellow Scheme’; a paediatric speciality observership within NHS hospitals for professionals from low- and middle-income countries. Dr Olorunmoteni spent five weeks at Alder Hey Children’s Hospital where she forged a strong connection with Professor Gladstone, who had been working on a screening tool for developmental delay and disability for African contexts. This led to the very first pilot of our primary health developmental screen in Nigeria, within just one clinic. Fast forward to 2023 and Professor Gladstone, Dr Olorunmoteni and the RCPCH Global team were reconnected at the International Developmental Paediatrics conference. With a shared passion for supporting children with neurodevelopmental disorders globally, the writing was on the wall, and after several late nights developing the concept in their hotel rooms (and one successful funding application!) our partnership was born.
What does working with Baby Ubuntu mean to your team?
Baby Ubuntu is essential to what we do, not an add-on but a core part of our model. Many families simply cannot sustain intensive individual therapy blocks due to the financial and logistical barriers they face. Baby Ubuntu ensures that regardless of those constraints, caregivers leave with the knowledge, skills and confidence to support their child’s development at home.
Find out more about our work on our website or connect with us on LinkedIn.