Grace Ebun Delano

Grace Ebun Delano (born 13 November 1935, in Kaduna) is a Nigerian nurse and midwife who has played a key role in pioneering family planning and reproductive health services in Nigeria. She co-founded the Association for Reproductive and Family Health of which she was director for many years, has acted as a consultant for many different organisations across Africa, and has written and co-authored numerous books and articles on women's health and related topics. In 1993, she was given the World Health Organization Sasakawa Award for her work in health development.

Early life and education

Grace Ebun-Oluwa Samuel was born in Kaduna on 13 November 1935 to Yoruba parents. Her name Ebun-Oluwa means gift from God in Yoruba: she was born unexpectedly to a forty-four-year-old mother with one other child, a ten-year-old boy. She grew up aware that her mother had a series of difficulties with pregnancy and child mortality. Delano won a scholarship that allowed her to move to more advanced schools, ending with the Abeokuta Grammar School. With help from her mother and brother Delano travelled to England in 1956 for three years of nursing training. After that she studied midwifery and then trained as a district nurse. This was when she came across women who wanted help to space their pregnancies out, and she took the opportunity to go to lectures in family planning and the use of the diaphragm. and from hospital-based provision to community-based initiatives, including distributing supplies through traditional markets. This work came to involve visits abroad: at first trips to the US for training, and later on Delano went as a consultant to many other African countries. Much of her work was funded or part-funded by international agencies like USAID, Pathfinder International and the Ford Foundation.

In the 1980s she was connected with the Center for Development and Population Activities (CEDPA) which used to organise leadership development training for women, especially supporting health and education initiatives. It is now part of Plan USA. Delano began to feel more confident about public speaking, and went to conferences, meeting other female leaders, and planning strategies to help women, especially with reproductive issues. and other areas to its concerns and worked with the government on HIV/AIDS projects. ARFH educational and counselling materials are used in many African countries. In November 2015, around the time of her 80th birthday, there was an event with retirement and valedictory lectures in her honour. Grace authored many published work. She published 9 research works with 130 citations and 1126 reads that are accessible online.

She is regularly described with phrases like “a veteran reproductive health leader in Nigeria”, and "veteran Nurse/Midwife with an outstanding career in Reproductive Health and Family Planning management spanning over 50 years." World Health Organization Sasakawa Award 1993 Award of Excellence for significant contributions to the success of the Nigerian Urban Reproductive Health Initiative (NURHI). (Funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to increase the use of modern family planning (FP) methods among the urban poor of six cities.) Consultant on reproductive health to many organisations in Nigeria and in other African countries. Country Co-ordinator for Johns Hopkins School of Public Health - Communication Programs Fellow of the West African College of Nursing Fellow of Institute for Humanitarian Studies and Social Development Secretary General for the Professional Association of Midwives of Nigeria Adviser to the International Planned Parenthood Federation Award by the Society for Obstetrician and Gynecologists Guide to Family Planning Answers to Questions Adolescents Ask on Sexuality Implant contraception in an NGO-managed primary health facility in Ibadan, Nigeria Assessing the Level of Preparedness of Private Health Providers for Clinical Management of HIV/AIDS Epidemic in Nassarawa State, Nigeria. African Journal of Reproductive Health (AJRH) The role of HIV/AIDS prevention campaigns on HIV-related behavioural changes in Ibadan, Nigeria Community based distribution agents’ approach to provision of family planning information and services in five Nigerian States: A mirage or a reality?