When I finished talking, the whole meeting just went silent, silent. And then there was applause. I still remember vividly, and I think I will always… - Olaitan Soyannwo

I was a young doctor, and I was having my first baby at the hospital where I worked. In those days there was hardly any monitoring, just an earpiece to hear the baby’s heart. So the C-section came too late, and my son was severely asphyxiated. They resuscitated aggressively – it would have been unheard of, for a young house officer to lose her baby.

We anesthetize people, and once they wake up we’re happy; we may never see them again. But then months, years down the line there may be things they suffer. And that’s when my son came to mind. It was spontaneous.

I sat there quietly in Geneva, listening, and thought – do these people really know what they’re talking about? I worked in a hospital all my life, and in return I got a son who suffered oxygen deprivation. And now I’m looking after him, and living with it. That’s what prompted me to speak.