The Academy of Public Well being (APH), the flagship physique of the West African Institute of Public Well being, in partnership with the Worldwide Society of Media in Public Well being (ISMPH), has honoured Nigerian well being journalist Ojoma Akor with the inaugural Moji Makanjuola Public Well being Journalism Award.
The award, offered on the APH Annual Convention in Abuja on November 24, 2025, celebrates excellent contributions to public well being reporting.
Akor was recognised for her distinctive journalism, investigative reporting and advocacy spanning greater than a decade.
The award was offered by the coordinating minister of Well being and Social Welfare, Prof. Muhammad Ali Pate, who used the event to lament Nigeria’s continued dependence on imported medication, stressing the necessity for native pharmaceutical manufacturing and stronger well being techniques.
In accordance with the organisers, Akor’s work has amplified crucial public well being points throughout Nigeria and Africa.
Her reporting covers key areas similar to well being financing, Common Well being Protection (UHC), diet, infectious ailments, and non-communicable ailments. She has additionally earned quite a few nationwide and worldwide recognitions, together with awards from the Worldwide Centre for Journalists and the Rising Well being Applied sciences Media Award.
Talking after receiving the award, Akor expressed pleasure and gratitude for being the first-ever recipient, describing the honour as a motivation to proceed advancing public well being via journalism.
Veteran broadcaster and public well being advocate Moji Makanjuola, in whose identify the award was established, stated the popularity demonstrates how the media and well being sectors can collaborate for the larger good of society.
The director-general of the West African Institute of Public Well being, Dr Francis Ohanwusi Ohanido, stated Akor was chosen after a rigorous search. He stated she emerged because the unanimous alternative for her vital impression on fellow well being journalists and the society at massive.
