Six Degrees of Healing: Politics, Patients, and Joyful Resistance
Dr Jainti Dass Saggar (1898-1954) was a medical practitioner, public health specialist and Labour politician
In 1936, he became the first person of colour to be a local authority councillor in Scotland.
I stood in the lecture hall at the University of Dundee, honouring a pioneer whose story still ripples through time. Dr Jainti Dass Saggar arrived in Scotland from Punjab in 1919, became Hilltown’s beloved doctor, and in 1936 shattered barriers as Scotland’s first South Asian councillor. His life was a masterclass in global citizenship—bridging cultures, fighting for equity, and reminding us that justice is local work with global echoes.
This year’s Jainti Dass Saggar Lecture was my invitation to connect the dots. Six degrees of separation isn’t just a party game; it’s the thread linking a pregnant woman in Dundee to a midwife fleeing conflict in Sudan, a policymaker in Westminster to a girl facing FGM in a refugee camp. We are all connected. And in 2025, that truth is both our burden and our superpower.
The Weight We Carry in 2025
Let’s not sugar-coat it. The world is on fire—slowly, structurally, persistently.
123 million people displaced by war and persecution.
Over 700 women dying every day from preventable pregnancy-related causes—90% in the Global South.
18 million health worker shortfall looming by 2030.
Maternal mortality rising in the USA post-Roe, stalling in parts of Africa, reversing a decade of progress.
Climate collapse, antimicrobial resistance, AI bias in healthcare algorithms, pandemics that hit the poorest hardest.
As clinicians, we don’t just read these stats—we live them. We hold the hands shaking from postpartum haemorrhage. We counsel the teenager coerced into unsafe abortion. We watch moral injury erode our colleagues. We see Black mothers in Scotland fear childbirth because the system wasn’t built for them.
And yet… we have front-row seats to human suffering—and with that comes the rare privilege of acting.
From Despair to Joyful Resistance
I didn’t coin “joyful resistance,” but I live it. It’s choosing to dance in the storm. It’s turning rage into policy submissions, grief into community co-design, burnout into collective care.
In 2019, I joined KWISA (Women of African Heritage) for the free food. I stayed for the vision: African women-led communities, dismantling inequalities at the intersection of race, gender, and health.
Fast forward to NAUWU – Nothing About Us Without Us, the first partnership in Scotland between KWISA and NHS Lothian’s Maternity Voices Partnership. We held five community listening events. 120 voices—pregnant Black women, midwives, doulas, public health experts—spoke raw truths:
"They assumed I didn’t speak English because of my name." "I was left in pain because ‘African women tolerate more.’" "My baby’s heartbeat dropped, and no one believed me."
MBBRACE reports confirm it: Black women are 2x more likely to die in pregnancy or postpartum in the UK. In Scotland, severe maternal morbidity hits ethnic minorities hardest. This isn’t biology. It’s structural discrimination—the most shocking form of inequality, as Martin Luther King Jr said.
But NAUWU isn’t just lamenting. We’re co-producing solutions: cultural safety training, bidirectional learning, and community-led birth equity. From individual healing to collective transformation.
Maternal Health: The Canary in the Coal Mine
Every system shock lands hardest on mothers and newborns:
Conflict: 61% of global maternal deaths in just 25% of births—Sudan, DRC, Palestine, Yemen.
Climate: Floods destroy maternity units; heatwaves trigger preterm labour.
Workforce crisis: The UK saves billions relying on International Medical Graduates (20% of NHS doctors), yet subjects them to differential attainment, racist GMC referrals, and unethical recruitment from the Global South.
Pandemics: COVID killed healthcare workers at higher rates if they were POC.
Women are 70% of the global health workforce but lead <25% of it. We birth the world, then patch it up—often without PPE, fair pay, or respect.
Six Degrees in Action: Your Patient in Dundee, Linked to Punjab
That woman labouring in Ninewells? Her outcome is shaped by:
UK aid cuts to sexual health in fragile states.
Scottish maternity staffing reliant on Filipino nurses.
AI triage tools trained on datasets erasing Black skin tones.
Local racist microaggressions eroding trust in care.
Global supply chains for oxytocin delayed by Red Sea conflict.
Dr Saggar’s scholarship funding the medical student advocating for her.
Your scalpel in the operating room is a political act.
Hope is a Discipline
Mariame Kaba taught us: “Hope is a discipline.” It’s not passive. It’s showing up. It’s the multidisciplinary NAUWU collective—obstetricians, doulas, lawyers, nutritionists, TV researchers—building systems rooted in justice and joy.
It’s clinicians refusing to look away. It’s turning compassion into bold, purposeful change.
Your Call to Action
Sign up for KWISA’s November events: kwisa.uk.org/events
Read the NAUWU community report: https://kwisa.org.uk/nauwu-report/
Reflect: How does your daily practice connect to global systems?
Act: Mentor an international medical graduate (IMG). Challenge bias at work. Support community-led research.
Share this post. Tag a colleague who needs to hear that resistance can be joyful.
In the face of suffering, look closer, not away.
By acting boldly with curiosity, we find joy in resisting injustice—while healing.
Because as Dr Saggar showed us: one life, well-lived in service, changes everything.
Let’s go far—together.
Grateful to the University of Dundee, The faily of Dr Jainti Daas Saggar, KWISA, NAUWU collective, and every woman who trusted us with her story.
With Dr Jainti Dass Saggar’s Family
—————————————————————————————————————————————————-
Dr Isioma Okolo | Consultant Obstetrician & Gynaecologist | @dr_isi_obgyn | drisiomaokolo.com
I’m Dr Isi, making women’s health, careers and social change easy.
Follow me and sign up for my newsletter for more
