Prof. Christiane Welffens-Ekra

Professor Christiane Welffens-Ekra, Côte d’Ivoire’s first woman associate professor of medicine, Honorary Professor of Gynecology-Obstetrics at the Faculty of Medicine of Cocody (UFR-SMA), University of Abidjan-Cocody, Knight of the Palmes Académiques, Commander in the Order of Merit of Higher Education and Scientific Research for services rendered to Science, Higher Education and Scientific Research in Côte d’Ivoire. Her influence in the service for over 40 years, her availability and her kindness are exemplary and inspiring, a model for professional women in general and women aspiring to become health executives in Côte d’Ivoire and Africa.

Depending on the themes and subjects of her training and facilitation sessions, Christiane has been able to develop her new concepts relentlessly at the right pace for action, constantly innovating working frameworks for the greatest social impact. Throughout her career, she has been an example of how, starting from ideas that she has always renewed, she has sought to implement them with the greatest participation, from the level of rural communities to post-graduate lecture theaters.

Christiane was part of the first generation in 1969 to benefit from a Ford Foundation scholarship to attend a Global Community and Family Study Center Summer Seminar on Family Planning at the University of Chicago in the USA. This unique training gave her, among other things, the knowledge and skills integrating her into Civil Society to play her leadership roles to inspire in Côte d’Ivoire the dynamics between women’s rights and objectives in associative activities that she has pursued throughout her professional career on the one hand and as a facilitator on the other at all levels: from community to regional and international.

Her professional experience has been based on Training and Operational Research in the privileged fields of Family Planning, Mother-to-Child Transmission of HIV, Reduction of Maternal, Newborn and Child Mortality and Morbidity; she has participated in international meetings and in the African sub-region as a consultant for JHPIEGO, UNFPA, UNICEF, HRP/WHO, WHO/AFRO and other international organizations. Christiane’s scientific publications and productions include Gynaecology-Obstetrics, Reproductive Health and Family Planning, Mother-Child Transmission of HIV, Safe Motherhood (Emergency Obstetric and Neonatal Care), Family Planning, Adolescent Reproductive Health, Clinical Reproductive Health Services.

Christiane helped teach the Reproductive Health Information and Management System (SIG/SR) module at the École Nationale Supérieure des Statistiques et Économie Appliquée (ENSEA) in Abidjan, Université d’Abidjan-Cocody. She has been an active member of the Board of Directors of the Association Ivoirienne pour le Marketing Social des Produits de Santé (AIMAS), which has been working in the SSR field of HIV/AIDS and family planning research and community action since 2001. Her social commitment is reflected in her leadership of leading national associations for the well-being and health of women and young people.

For over 40 years, following her activities as a founding member and national past-president of the Association Ivoirienne pour le Bien-Être Familial (AIBEF) and her experience in the field, Christiane’s objectives have remained the challenge of sexual and reproductive health in sub-Saharan Africa, to help achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Christiane is a woman of conviction, committed, perceptive, diplomatic, with a sense of leadership that is unanimously appreciated. She has a sense of duty and of a job well done. Christiane is a founding member and the first president of Club Soroptimist Côte d’Ivoire, dedicated to the advancement of women and the well-being of vulnerable populations. Since its creation on April 25, 1981, Soroptimist Côte d’Ivoire has carried out numerous actions, notably in the fields of health (Agboville, Alépé, Abidjan, Boundiali), financial autonomy (Boundiali), education (Ayébo, Bouna, Houantoué school group in Abobo) and child prevention (Didablé). In general, Soroptimist Côte d’Ivoire remains faithful to the movement’s worldwide philosophy of transforming the lives and status of women and girls through education, empowerment and the creation of opportunities for the advancement of women. Its areas of intervention are education, women’s empowerment, prevention of violence against women, health and food security.

Soroptimists are women active in professions and businesses who work together at local, national and international levels to educate, empower and build the capacity of women and girls to improve their lives through projects, advocacy, scholarships, mentoring and various rehabilitation, construction and donation activities. Soroptimist Côte d’Ivoire contributes, according to its leaders, to improving the lives of women in Côte d’Ivoire. Soroptimist International has some 72,000 members in 121 countries. Soroptimist is a contraction of the Latin word “Sorores ad optimum”, meaning “sisters for the best”.

Christiane is Chairman of a family enterprise founded in 2020, Dingui Akassi International, representing her values and dedication to social development, improving the well-being of every person in society so that they can realize their full potential.

Born in 1938, Christiane is Ivorian and lives in Côte d’Ivoire. She is the eldest of a large family that has always been at the service of development and social integration in Côte d’Ivoire. She is married to Ludo Welffens, has three children (Yan, Karine and Frank) and eight grandchildren (Yaackim, Maeva, Kemaal, Naomi, Lana, Yerim, Malick and Yeelen).

Honors and distinctions

Commander in the Order of Merit of Higher Education and Scientific Research for services rendered to Science (Commandeur dans l’Ordre du Mérite de l’Enseignement Supérieur et de la Recherche Scientifique.)

Honorary member of the Collège National des Gynécologues-Obstétriciens Français (CNGOF).

Honorary member of the Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of Canada (SOGC).

Diplôme d’Honneur “Ensemble Contre le SIDA” (Together Against AIDS).

Diploma of Merit “Tribute to the Women of Côte d’Ivoire”. (Diplôme de Mérite “Hommage aux Femmes de Côte d’Ivoire”) awarded by the Jeune Chambre Économique d’Abidjan.

Officer of the Order of National Education.

Knight of the National Order of Public Health.

Knight of the Palmes Académiques Françaises.

Professional distinctions

Member of the WHO African Region Working Group on Reproductive Health.

President of the Scientific Committee of the Association Ivoirienne pour le Bien-être Familial (AIBEF) for the promotion of emergency contraception and safe motherhood.

Member of TASK FORCE Santé Maternelle et Néonatale. Regional Unicef.

Member of the Union Internationale Professionnelle des Gynécologues-Obstétriciens (UPIGO).

Vice-President of the Société Francophone de Contraception (SFC).

Member of the Groupe de Conseillers Régionaux pour la Recherche en Santé de la Reproduction (RAP-RHR/WHO).

Member of the Board of Directors of CEFA / CAFS (Centre d’Étude de la Famille Africaine) in Nairobi, Kenya.

Member of the Coordination Committee of the Action-Research Program for the Improvement of Quality and Access to Emergency Obstetric Care (AQUASOU).

Consultancy activities in Teaching and Evaluation of Reproductive Health Training and Programs with JHPIEGO, UNFPA, UNICEF, HRP/WHO, WHO/AFRO.

Former member of the FIGO Committee for Safe Motherhood and Newborn Health.

Past-President of the Société de Gynécologie-Obstétrique de Côte d’Ivoire (SOGOCI).

Technical Advisor to the Minister of Public Health, Ministry of Public Health of Côte d’Ivoire, in charge of Reproductive Health from June 2000 to September 2002.

Member of the Scientific Committee and Steering Committee of the DITRAME-Plus Project: Package of interventions directed at HIV infection in mothers and children in Africa [ANRS Research Project: Agence Nationale de Recherche sur le SIDA (INSERM Unit 330 – Bordeaux)].

Member of the Scientific Committee and Steering Committee of the “Near-Miss” Project (Severe Maternal Morbidity) of the Côte d’Ivoire Reproductive Health Research Unit (CRESAR-CI), in collaboration with the London School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine.

Principal Investigator of the DITRAME Research Project (Diminution de la
Transmission of HIV from Mother to Child) in collaboration with ANRS (Agence Nationale de Recherche sur le SIDA) in Bordeaux.

National Coordinator of the Côte d’Ivoire Reproductive Health Research Unit (CRESAR-CI). (Founding member)

Teaching and training

Former lecturer in Gynecology-Obstetrics at the U.F.R. (Unité de Formation et de Recherche) des Sciences Médicales d’Abidjan – Université de Cocody.

Former Head of the Gynecology-Obstetrics Family Planning Clinical Department, CHU de Yopougon Abidjan.

Former teacher of the Reproductive Health module at ENSEA (École Nationale Supérieure de Statistique et d’Économie Appliquée) in Abidjan for SIG/SR (Système d’Information et de Gestion en Santé de la Reproduction).

Former lecturer in the SR/PF module (Reproductive Health and Family Planning) for the C.E.S. de Santé Publique et Médecine Communautaire – Faculté de Médecine d’Abidjan.

Publications

Publications and scientific communications in Gynecology-Obstetrics/Reproductive Health. See PubMed online

Diplomas and academic titles

Full University Professor (CTS-CAMES) in Gynecology-Obstetrics (1993)

Comité Consultatif Français (C.C.F.) Paris, France (1980), Associate Professor of Gynecology – Obstetrics

Doctorat d’Etat en Médecine, Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire (1971)

Université Libre de Bruxelles, Hôpital Saint Pierre, Belgium (1970), Diploma in Human Reproductive Biology

Faculty of Sciences, Paris, France (1961)
Certificate in Physics-Chemistry-Biology (P.C.B.)

Lycée Claude MONNET, Paris, France (1959), BAC A – Philosophy series