2025 UHC Day Champion
Concepta Kwaleyela
President of the Midwives Association of Zambia
Browse other champions
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- Dr. Ricardo Baptista Leite, Founder and President of UNITE - Parliamentarian’s Network for Global Health
- Dr. Viroj Tangcharoensathien, Vice Chair and Senior Advisor, International Health Policy Program Foundation, Thailand
- Solange Mbaye, Regional Programme Manager for Amref Health Africa, Senegal
- Levy Mkandawire, Programme Manager for Amref Health Africa, Zambia
- Concepta Kwaleyela, President of the Midwives Association of Zambia
- Professor Anne Beatrice Kihara, Former President of the International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics, Kenya
- Hester Mkwinda Nyasulu, Country Manager for Amref, Malawi
- Habibou Ouedraogo, Health Economist, Ministry of Health, Burkina Faso
- Hon. Hyun-Young Shin, Congresswoman, 21st National Assembly of Republic of Korea
Teenage pregnancy is a national development concern that undermines our path to universal health coverage. When girls become mothers too soon, they lose the chance to finish school and develop their capabilities. Their voices remind us of the urgency to invest in adolescent sexual and reproductive health and rights so every girl can grow and thrive.
Zambia has taken important steps toward UHC, including the development and adoption of Respectful Maternity Care (RMC) guidelines, to which Prof. Concepta has been a key contributor. As President of the Midwives Association of Zambia (MAZ), she is committed to ensuring these guidelines move beyond paper and become a standard of practice in all districts. As shared during the recently held CAAP meeting in Lusaka, she is actively mobilizing midwives and health workers across the country to raise awareness of RMC principles such as dignity, privacy, safe delivery environments and respectful treatment, as core components of quality care. These efforts align closely with the Zambian President’s national commitment to construct maternity annexes in every constituency; she see this as a strategic opportunity to hold government to account by embedding RMC within expanded infrastructure, strengthened referral systems and more accessible quality maternity care, especially where it is most needed. If duly implanted and adequately funded, these reforms can drive tangible progress toward UHC by improving service quality, equity and trust in the health system.
Prof. Concepta believes that data alone is not enough to drive political change and that stories, lived realities and frontline perspectives from community health workers are equally essential. As President of MAZ, she leads a nationwide network of midwives and health professionals who witness daily the challenges faced by pregnant adolescents, many of whom rely exclusively on midwives and community health workers for guidance and emotional support – let alone safe delivery. Teenage pregnant girls often navigate stigma, long travel distances, and unaffordable transport or service fees, putting them at high risk of complications.
Through the PMNCH CAAP initiative in Zambia, Prof. Concepta is championing the systematic documentation of these lived experiences so they can inform stronger advocacy and more responsive policy. She is training midwives and health workers to capture real stories from communities to illustrate how financial barriers and limited services impact women and adolescents. Her leadership ensures that frontline voices shape CAAP advocacy messaging and keep the human realities of healthcare at the center of UHC reforms.
