Toronto, July 19, 2022—The Grand Challenges Canada team extends their deepest condolences to the family, friends and colleagues of Dr. Martina Lukong Baye. We are saddened by the passing of Dr. Baye. This is a a huge loss for the maternal, newborn and child health community in Cameroon and around the world.
Dr. Baye recently joined our Program Advisory Council and had already made important contributions to our work.
An innovator at heart, Dr. Baye was notably instrumental in making the Kangaroo Mother Care Development Impact Bond (KMC DIB)—a first-of-its-kind program launched in Cameroon to save newborn babies—possible. The ground-breaking KMC DIB funded a health practice that improved the lives of approximately 2,200 newborns across 10 hospitals in Cameroon, and Dr. Baye was ensuring the progress was being incorporated into the longer-term planning of the Ministry of Public Health.
We, along with the Program Advisory Council members, express our gratitude for her formative contributions to Grand Challenges Canada. She will be greatly missed.
At the time of her death, Dr. Baye was the national coordinator of the multisector program to combat maternal, newborn and child mortality in Cameroon.
