ABOUT THE MILLENNIUM FELLOWSHIP - CLASS OF 2021
United Nations Academic Impact and MCN are proud to partner on the Millennium Fellowship. In 2021, over 25,000 young leaders on 2,000+ campuses across 153 nations applied to join the Class of 2021. 136 campuses worldwide (just 6%) were selected to host the 2,000+ Millennium Fellows. The Class of 2021 is bold, innovative, and inclusive.
UNITED NATIONS ACADEMIC IMPACT AND MCN PROUDLY PRESENT GIFT UGOCHI EWULONU, A MILLENNIUM FELLOW FOR THE CLASS OF 2021.
University of Calabar | Calabar, Nigeria | Advancing SDG 3 & UNAI 9
" Leadership has been a dream for me, and although I find myself in such situations without asking for it most times, I do not desire to be a mediocre in any position.
Being a Millennium Fellow will equip me with the social network and trainings/projects required to further sharpen my skills in goal-oriented leadership in alignment with the global goals; the SDGs.
This is an opportunity I am so grateful to have and would undoubtedly utilize maximally. "
Millennium Fellowship Project: Light-It Nigeria
"HELLO SUGAR! From Sugar to Diabetes, How Far?" is the theme of the symposium carried out under the Light-It Nigeria project during the period of the fellowship.
It is a step by step exposition, dispelling myths and offering solutions to Diabetes. It is a symposium designed and targeted at 250 persons aged 16– 30, as the incidence of Type 1 & Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus in young persons is increasingly alarming in the Calabar Community and Nigeria at large. This project is core to our essence at LIGHT-IT NG as it exterminates misconceptions and mythologies on health issues especially NCDs by establishing a link between people and professionals.
At the symposium, we had a Consultant Chemical Pathologist from the University of Calabar, a Senior Registrar in Endocrinology and the National Secretary of the Diabetes Association of Nigeria (DAN) speak to students from different departments in the University and City on the topic of Diabetes and how best to combat it.
Diabetes is the fourth major cause of death globally and our core deliverable/benefit from HELLO SUGAR is in-depth awareness on diabetes in order to reduce the rate of incidence, complications and mortality due to this cause in our community.
Major measurement of our success is audience further participation in our public health interventions to control environmental infections as it activates the expression of diabetes. The HELLO SUGAR Project will undergo ethical Monitoring & Evaluation, Peer-review and publication.
About the Millennium Fellow
Gift Ewulonu is a passion driven lass with a knack for Health Advocacy, Volunteering Leadership, as well as Youth Development. She is a 400 level student of the Department of Medicine and Surgery, University of Calabar and also a member Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI) Network, Cross River State. An owner of a thriving petty business in Hospital Wears and author of the Facebook series "The Shopgirl".
Gift Ewulonu hails from Ezinihitte Mbaise LGA in Imo State, Nigeria.
She also has a strong zeal towards lending a hand to achieve SDG 3; Good Health and Well-being. This passion has led her to volunteer with a number of NGOs with like objectives such as Pink-Africa Foundation, CMDA- Christian Medical and Dental Association, amongst others.
Gift Ewulonu is the Founder and Executive Director of Light-It Nigeria, a nonprofit NGO aimed at greatly reducing mortality from totally preventable diseases with a zoom in on Non-communicable Diseases; using the tools of Public Health Education.
A Certified First Aider (Basic Life Support) with the Red Cross Society of Nigeria,
A Social Intrapreneur for Innovation in Health and Wellness Certified by Ashoka.
These as well as other skills such as Health Communication and Community Service are the tools with which she seeks to effect a change in the Nigerian Health Sector and Society at large.
She has been a member of the organising team in a number of projects such as the "Hello Sugar" symposium against Diabetes and its risk factors.
She is a gregarious fellow, who is also skilled in Project Management, Content Creation and Story Writing. Asides from getting creative with the pen, she also loves to dance and act stage plays in her spare time.
