Mulikat Okanlawon

Born in Lagos, Nigeria, Mulikat Okanlawon is a noma advocate and a noma survivor raising awareness at the global level.

In 2022, she co-founded Elysium, the first noma survivors’ association, along with Fidel Strub. Her story has been featured in the award-winning documentaries Restoring Dignity (52 min.) and Surviving noma (4 min.30) and in several major local and international publications.

In 2022, she was highlighted by the World Health Organization as one of the seven people ‘Making a Difference on Health’ in Africa. In 2024, she was named by TIME as one of the 100 people individuals who most influenced global health this year.

Mulikat lives in Sokoto, in the northwest of Nigeria, and works with Médecins Sans Frontières / Doctors without borders (MSF) as health promotion officer at the Noma Hospital.

She survived noma as a child and she first arrived in Sokoto along with her father while seeking medical care. The tissues of the left part of her face had been destroyed by the initial infection, affecting her mouth and her cheek up to her eye. As a teenager and young adult, Mulikat underwent several reconstructive surgeries and started to accept what happened to her.

In parallel, she learned Hausa and got her first job at the very hospital before completing a degree in health record management. Mulikat has dedicated her life to supporting other noma survivors. She insists on sharing a message of hope: There is ability in disability, and thanks to more awareness, noma can be eradicated.