UN General Assembly Reflection
During the unusual but still hectic UNGA week, HFI joined so many virtual events and networking that resonated with HFI’s commitment to close the financing gap for NCDs. One discussion that stood out, in particular, was the high-level digital summit hosted by Women in Global Health, Foreign Policy, and the Wagner Foundation, which spotlighted women’s leadership in global health. Roopa Dhatt, MD, Executive Director and Co-Founder of Women in Global Health, drew attention to the underpaid or even unpaid women healthcare workers. While women provide $3 trillion of care annually, half of that is currently unpaid in informal systems. We need a new social contract to address the deep structural issue and to value women’s contribution. Other speakers shared critical insights on how to fully activate women’s contribution in the battle against COVID-19, such as including women in global health security decision-making structures, decent working conditions for women health workers, recognizing the value of women’s unpaid work, adopting a gender-sensitive approach to health data collection and analysis, as well as funding women’s movement and organizations for social protection- Yun Fu (Innovative Finance Specialist)
I went in not knowing how a virtual UNGA would work, but I must say the organizers did a great job of making the most of what we have. The digital engagement platforms and tools they used to stream the discussions and webinars also integrated networking and surveying tools, adding that human touch, which seems to be so amiss in our new virtual normal.-Janani Jayesh (Communications Intern)
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