Founder Raises Global Alarm on Femicide on the Connecting the Dots Platform.
DOHS Cares Foundation has successfully rescued and 216 women and children from diverse forms of abuse ranging from domestic violence and attempted femicide to sexual assault to child abuse over the past 18 months.
DOHS Cares’ Founder, Ololade Ajayi, revealed this while speaking about the alarming rates of femicide globally on the Connecting the Dots Platform , a global Digital forum convened by Nalini Saxena, to foster cross-sectoral solutions for urgent Social Justice issues, on Friday, July 18th 2025.
Her presentation titled “Unseen, Unheard, Uncounted: Femicide and the War on Women” engaged poetry, data activism, and comparative analysis of femicide globally to unveil lived realities of Women highlighting statistics from UN Women in 2023, which disclosed that over 85,000 women and girls were intentionally killed worldwide with Africa bearing the highest burden of this crime.
Nigeria recorded 150 reported femicide related deaths in 2024 alone, as tracked by the DOHS Femicide Observatory, which has now tracked over 88 cases in the first half of 2025; amounting to a woman being killed by an intimate partner, relative or acquaintance every 49 hours.
Speaking at the occasion, Ololade Ajayi, Founder, DOHS Cares Foundation said ‘Femicide is war, war on women;s right to breathe and to be, so each rescue we make is a life reclaimed from violence. Each child rescued from abuse is a future restored. Our interventions at DOHS are not just statistics, they are testimonies to the power of collective care and advocacy,”
While celebrating the DOHS Survivor Rescue milestone, Ajayi emphasizes that the crisis is far from over, gender-based violence and child abuse continue to threaten thousands of vulnerable women and children individuals across Nigeria,
Ajayi’s presentation underscored the lack of gender-specific legislation on femicide in Nigeria, the growing online InCel communities perpetuating misogyny, and the urgent need for Safe Spaces for Survivors.
She warned that without accurate data, legal recognition, and protection mechanisms, the silent war on women will continue unchecked.
Ajayi advocates for a future where every life lost to femicide is accounted for, and where communities rise collectively to prevent further killings, while urging individuals and Government bodies to intervene through funding grassroot organizations working to prevent GBV such as DOHS Cares Foundation, so as to keep provision of safety and dignity for survivors continuous.