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Summary
DOHS Cares Foundation has rescued 216 women and children from various forms of abuse over the past 18 months. Founder Ololade Ajayi shared this while raising alarm over rising femicide rates and urging urgent action to protect vulnerable lives.
DOHS Cares Foundation has successfully rescued 216 women and children from diverse forms of abuse, ranging from domestic violence and attempted femicide to sexual assault and child abuse, over the past 18 months.
Ololade Ajayi, founder of DOHS Cares, revealed this while speaking about the alarming rates of femicide globally on the Connecting the Dots platform on July 18, 2025. Connecting the Dots is a global digital forum convened by Nalini Saxena to foster cross-sectoral solutions for urgent social justice issues.
Her presentation, titled “Unseen, Unheard, Uncounted: Femicide and the War on Women,” engaged poetry, data activism, and a comparative analysis of femicide globally to unveil the lived realities of women. It highlighted 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. In the first half of 2025, over 88 cases have already been recorded, amounting to a woman being killed by an intimate partner, relative, or acquaintance every 49 hours.
“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,” Ololade said, noting that DOHS interventions reflect the impact of collective care and advocacy, not just statistics.
While celebrating the DOHS survivor rescue milestone, she emphasised that the crisis is far from over, as gender-based violence and child abuse continue to threaten thousands of vulnerable women and children across Nigeria.
Ololade 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.
She also urged individuals and government bodies to support grassroots organisations like DOHS Cares Foundation through funding, to ensure the continuous provision of safety and dignity for survivors.
Ololade Ajayi advocates for a future where every life lost to femicide is accounted for, and where communities rise collectively to prevent further killings.
