Who We Are

Incorporated in the State of Georgia, Women Health First (WHF), is a US-based 501(c)(3) Nonprofit, educational, and humanitarian aid organization. WHF was established by founder Dr. Nahila Ayeva (BS, MA, CHES®, DHL, Public Health Educator, and Behavioral Health Analyst) initially to address community concerns about the COVID-19 outbreak, through her passion for sharing reliable public health information and practical behavioral tips to promote health and prevent the spread of the virus in Clayton and surrounding Counties of Metro Atlanta.

Despite continuous improvement in overall health outcomes over the past decade, many underprivileged communities still experience significant health disparities. Therefore, Nahila wanted to increase health awareness, as COVID-19 and its harmful impact have continued to disproportionately affect women, especially in minority communities, where some of them die land left behind, orphan children with devastating Mental Health issues.

In addition, this viral infectious disease has made diabetes emerge as an underlying condition that increases the chance of severe illness. According to the CDC, nearly 4 in 10 adults who died from COVID-19 in the US also had diabetes. The National Diabetes Statistics Report indicates that 37.3 million people in the US have diabetes (that is about 1 in every 10 people), and 96 million have Pre-diabetes, more than 1 in 3 people (CDC, 2022). According to the American Diabetes Association, African Americans are disproportionately affected and are more likely than whites to be diagnosed with diabetes and are twice as likely as their white counterparts to suffer complications such as blindness, kidney disease, amputations, and die of diabetes (ADA, 2021). Therefore, it became necessary for WHF to take action to increase awareness and design a Pre-diabetes Prevention Program to address this health problem in African American and minority populations. Women's Health First is a CDC-recognized organization that provides the National Diabetes Prevention- Lifestyle Change Program.

Everyone needs fundamental public health information and basic needs to make informed health decisions, to promote and improve their health and quality of life. WHF is currently expanding to also address the Water Crisis in rural Togo, West Africa. This started with Nahila’s weekly community health education sessions, during which she has always emphasized and stressed the importance of handwashing to prevent the spread of COVID-19, to the point that a program participant raises a concern: "How is it possible for African people in rural areas wash their hands when they don't even have clean water to drink". Indeed, how is this possible!? Nahila acted and that’s when she and her team decided to expand the WHF initiatives to address the rural African water crisis as another priority.
 

While studying public health in New York - the United States, Nahila learned that the water crisis is a global issue not just found in Africa. Access to safe water and sanitation is a basic need for human beings. Yet billions of people across the globe are living without reliable access to these necessities of life. The global water crisis kills 3.4 million lives each year and 780 million people rely on contaminated drinking water sources (UN). Togo is one of the West African countries affected the most by this water crisis. According to UNICEF, 33% of the Togolese population does not have access to clean water. Women and girls are disproportionately impacted; they bear the burden of searching for water, walking an average of 3.7 miles daily to collect and carry up to 40 pounds home missing productive activities or schools (UN). This brought Nahila back to her childhood in Togo, where there are indigenous Togolese Women in villages showing the painful daily struggle of obtaining dirty, contaminated water for their families.