Grace Ebun Delano (born 13 November 1935, in Kaduna) is a nurse and midwife who has played a key role in pioneering family planning and reproductive health services in Nigeria.
[1] 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.
[1] Delano returned to Nigeria in 1961 and the following year got a job in the maternity unit at University College Hospital, Ibadan.
[citation needed] Over the years the programme spread from urban to rural areas,[1][3] and from hospital-based provision to community-based initiatives, including distributing supplies through traditional markets.
[1][4] This work came to involve visits abroad: at first trips to the US for training,[5] and later on Delano went as a consultant to many other African countries.
[1] After she wrote a straightforward informational book on family planning the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) paid for it to be printed and distributed in five languages.
[8] 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.