A High Level Digital Summit: Women in Global Health Security

September 17, 2020

Achieving Gender-Responsive Global Health

The COVID-19 crisis has been a stark reminder that global health is a fundamental security concern. The pandemic has exposed deep inequalities in health and social systems at global and national levels, including gender inequities, weakening our collective ability to tackle COVID-19 and generate improved health outcomes into the future. It is clear that the commitment made by governments to deliver Universal Health Coverage by 2030 is an essential prerequisite for global health security. Many lives will be lost to COVID-19 because gender disparities in the health workforce and wider society weaken our response. We can take steps now to build back better and bring the important conversation about equality and health into the international security arena.

Foreign Policy, in partnership with Women in Global Health and the Wagner Foundation, hosted a high-level digital summit coinciding with the 2020 UN General Assembly to illuminate the need for gender-transformative policy within global health security. Gender responsive policies, which challenge fundamental inequities, will strengthen global recovery from COVID-19 and support a “gender triple-dividend” — achieving gender and social equality, improved health and wellbeing, and inclusive economic growth.

Watch to hear from leading global experts and pioneering leaders who have committed to gender strategies and have spearheaded integration of health into broader policy frameworks.

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Speakers

President Sahle-Work Zewde

President of Ethiopia

Prior her appointment as president, Zewde served in the Ethiopian Ministry of Education in the Public Relations ...

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Ravi Agrawal

MANAGING EDITOR, FOREIGN POLICY

Ravi Agrawal is the managing editor of Foreign Policy. Before joining FP, Agrawal worked at CNN for more than a decade, including his most recent position as the network’s N...

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Anita Bhatia

Deputy Executive Director for Resource Management, Sustainability and Partnerships, UN Women

Prior to serving as Deputy Executive Director for Resource Management at UN Women, Ms. Bhatia has had a distinguished career at the World Bank Group. She brings extensive experi...

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James Chau

WHO Goodwill Ambassador

James Chau currently serves as a World Health Organization Goodwill Ambassador for Sustainable Development Goals and Health. He has pre...

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Roopa Dhatt, MD

Executive Director and Co-Founder, Women in Global Health

Dr Roopa Dhatt is a passionate advocate for gender equality in global health and a leading voice in the
movement to correct the gender imbalance in global health leadershi...

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H.E. María Fernanda Espinosa Garcés

Former President of the United Nations General Assembly

María Fernanda was an advisor on biodiversity and indigenous peoples’ policy and later regiona...

María Fernanda was an advisor on biodiversity and indigenous peoples’ policy and later regional director for South America of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. She served as Minister of Foreign Affairs, Minister of Defense, Minister of Cultural and Natural Heritage and was the first female ambassador and permanent representative of Ecuador to the United Nations in New York and Geneva. Most recently, she served as President of the 73rd Session of the United Nations General Assembly. María Fernanda has received numerous acknowledgements from the Latin American Studies Association, the Ford Foundation, the Society of Woman Geographers, the Rockefeller Foundation, and the German Agency for Cooperation. Before beginning her political and diplomatic career, María Fernanda was Associate Professor and Researcher at the Latin American Faculty for Social Sciences and has written over 30 academic articles and has produced poetry that included an award from the National Poetry Prize of Ecuador in 1990. She holds a bachelor’s degree in applied linguistics from the Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador; a master’s degree in social sciences and Amazonian studies; and a postgraduate diploma in anthropology and political science from the Latin American Social Sciences Institute. She has undertaken doctoral studies in Geography at Rutgers University. She is currently Commissioner of The Lancet COVID-19 Commission; Councilor of the World Future Council; member of the Multi-Stakeholder Steering Committee of the Generation Equality, Beijing + 25 process and the Generation Equality Forum; the Political Advisory Panel of the Universal Health Coverage 2030 Movement, UHC2030; the Group of Women Leaders for Change and Inclusion GWL; the Strategic Committee of the SDSN Science Panel for the Amazon; and Founder Member of the Board at the Centre for UN Studies, University of Buckingham. M. Espinosa is Goodwill Ambassador of the Latin American and Caribbean Fund for the Development of the Indigenous Peoples, FILAC.

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Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus

WHO Director-General

Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus was elected as WHO Director-General for a five-year term by WHO Member States at the Seventieth World Health Assembly in May 2017. He is the...

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Anuradha Gupta

Deputy CEO, Gavi, The Vaccine Alliance

Since joining Gavi in 2015, Anuradha has led efforts to put equity and gender at the centre of Gavi’s program planning and to tailor support to countries within Gavi’s strat...

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Ilona Kickbusch

Founder and Chair of the Global Health Centre, Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies

Professor Kickbusch is a member of the Global Preparedness Monitoring Board and the WHO High-Level Independent Commission on NCDS and is co-chair of UHC 2030. She acts as Counci...

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Laura Petrella

Head of the Planning, Economy, and Finance Section, Urban Practices Branch, Global Solutions Division, UN-Habitat

Laura Petrella is the Leader of the City Planning, Extension and Design Unit at UN-Habitat since 2012. She is also OIC of the Urban Planning and Design Branch. She is an archite...

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Ambassador Päivi Sillanaukee, MD, PhD, eMBA

Ambassador for Health and Wellbeing, Finland

Päivi Sillanaukee (MD, PhD, eMBA) is the thematic Ambassador for Health and Wellbeing at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland as part of a pilot program of cross-sectora...

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Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove

COVID-19 Technical Lead, WHO

Maria Van Kerkhove, PhD is an infectious disease epidemiologist who specializes in outbreaks of emerging and re-emerging pathogens. Dr Van Kerkhove com...

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Dr. Monique Vledder

Practice Manager, the Global Financing Facility, The World Bank

Dr. Vledder’s expertise in maternal and child health, health financing and health systems strengthening was built over twenty years of in country experience with a focus on so...

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Charlotte Wagner

Founder and CEO, Wagner Foundation

Charlotte Wagner is the Founder and CEO of Wagner Foundation, a Boston-based foundation whose mission is to build just and robust community througho...

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Agenda

9:00 AM

Opening

Ravi Agrawal, Managing Editor, Foreign Policy

Roopa Dhatt, MD, Executive Director and Co-Founder, Women in Global Health

Charlotte Wagner, Founder and CEO, Wagner Foundation

9:10 AM

Fireside Chat

Keynote: President Sahle-Work Zewde, President of Ethiopia

Moderator: Ravi Agrawal, Managing Editor, Foreign Policy

9:30 AM

Panel 1: Achieving Global Health Security through Gender Equality

H.E. Maria Fernanda Espinosa, Former President of the United Nations General Assembly

Ambassador Päivi Sillanaukee, Ambassador for Health and Wellbeing, Finland

Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove, COVID-19 Technical Lead, WHO

Moderator: James Chau, WHO Goodwill Ambassador

Message from Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus

Watch a brief message from Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the director-general of the World Health Organization, recorded for today's summit.

10:05 AM

Fireside Chat 2

Keynote: Anita Bhatia, Deputy Executive Director for Resource Management, Sustainability and Partnerships, UN Women

Moderator: Ravi Agrawal, Managing Editor, Foreign Policy

10:25 AM

Panel 2: Build Back Better: Gender Responsive Health Systems

Anuradha Gupta, Deputy CEO, Gavi, The Vaccine Alliance

Laura Petrella, Head of the Planning, Economy, and Finance Section, Urban Practices Branch, Global Solutions Division UN-Habitat

Dr. Monique Vledder, Practice Manager, The Global Financing Facility, The World Bank

Moderator: Ilona Kickbusch, Founder and Chair of The Global Health Centre, Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies

11:00 AM

Closing

11:15 AM

Breakout Session: Women Leading on the Frontlines in Pandemics

Moderator: Dr. Vanessa Kerry - CEO, Seed Global Health

Honorable Minister Dr. Magda Robalo - High Commissioner for COVID-19 in the Office of the President, Guinea-Bissau

Ambassador Stéphanie Seydoux - Ambassador of Global Health, France

Ambassador Nora Kronig - Ambassador of Global Health, Switzerland

Savior Flomo Mendin - County Manager for Grand Bassa County, Last Mile Health

Dr. Tsion Firew - Doctor of Emergency Medicine, Special Advisor to the Ministry of Health of Ethiopia, and Assistant Professor at Columbia

Breakout Session: Women Researching and Innovating in Health Security

Moderator: Dr. Tana Wuliji - Technical Officer, Health Workforce, World Health Organization

Dr. Samira Asma - Assistant Director-General, Data, Analytics, and Delivery, World Health Organization

Dr. Catharina Boehme - CEO, The Foundation For Innovative New Diagnostics

Professor Monica Lakhanpaul - University College London Vice Provost for South Asia, Professor of Integrated Child Health and Consultant Pediatrician

Dr. Rodica Comendant - Coordinator, Reproductive Health Training Center

Professor Gagandeep Kang - Professor of Microbiology, Division of Gastrointestinal Sciences, Christian Medical College

Breakout Session: Women Leading Across Borders

Moderator: Kate Dodson - Vice President for Global Health, United Nations Foundation

Opening remarks: Winnie Byanyima - Executive Director, Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS, UNAIDS

Dr. Princess Nothemba Simelela - Assistant Director-General, Special Advisor to the Director-General: Strategic Priorities, Office of the Director-General, World Health Organization

Monica Ferro - Director of United Nations Population Fund

Dr. Rana Ahmad Hajjeh El-Kebbi - Director, Program Management, World Health Organization Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean

Flor Franciscon - Midwife and Board member of the International Confederation of Midwives

Françoise Vanni - Head of External Relations and Communications, Global Fund

Breakout Session: Addressing Gender Disparities within the Response to COVID-19: Evidence From Emerging Research

Moderator: Dr. Rosemary Morgan - Assistant Scientist, Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University

Opening remarks: Dr. Clare Wenham - Assistant Professor of Global Health Policy at the London School of Economics

Dr. Denise Nacif Pimenta - Researcher, Institute Rene Rachou

Dr. Sabina Rashid - Dean and Professor, BRAC James P Grant School of Public Health University

Anne Ngunijiri - Senior Technical Advisor, GBV, LVCT Health

Dr. Germaine Furaha - Director of the Centre of Excellence Denis Mukwege, Universite Evangelique en Afrique

12:00 PM

Networking Session: Movements and Their Allies: How Donors Can Support Grassroots Change in Health

Click here to join this session.
This link will open a Zoom webinar.

Moderator: Sarah Hillware - Deputy Director, Women in Global Health

Charlotte Wagner - CEO and Founder, Wagner Foundation

Her Excellency Toyin Ojora Saraki - President and Founder, Wellbeing Africa Foundation

John Green - Author and Co-founder of Complexly

Tikhala Itaye - Chairperson, SheDecides and Co-founder HeR Liberty

Leila Hessini - Vice President for Programs, Global Fund for Women

Networking Session: Artists, Activism, and Advocacy in Global Health Security

Click here to join this session.
This link will open a Zoom webinar.

Moderator: Dr. Kealoha Fox - AlohaCare, Asia-Pacific Leader, Obama Foundation

Lisa Russell - Emmy Award Winning Filmmaker and Advocate

Ayanda MaKayi - Actor and Advocate for Gender Equality

Helena Vizcaino - Creative in Social Innovation

Lilly Khorsand - Global health Practitioner, Creative Illustrator, and Gender and Health Equity Advocate

For more information, contact Diana Marrero, Senior Vice President of Strategic Development.

A High Level Digital Summit: Women in Global Health Security

Achieving Gender-Responsive Global Health

Speakers

President Sahle-Work Zewde

Ravi Agrawal

Anita Bhatia

James Chau

Roopa Dhatt, MD

H.E. María Fernanda Espinosa Garcés

Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus

Anuradha Gupta

Ilona Kickbusch

Laura Petrella

Ambassador Päivi Sillanaukee, MD, PhD, eMBA

Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove

Dr. Monique Vledder

Charlotte Wagner

Agenda

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