77th World Health Assembly Side-Event
Watch now - Unleashing Powerful Partnerships for Women’s Health Equity
Agenda
Event host
This event was hosted by the Global Surgery Foundation and our Founding Partners, in association with the Johnson & Johnson Foundation.
Co-sponsors
We are proud to significantly expand the global momentum for surgical care this year with this strong coalition of partners.
Governments
Organisations
Strong partnerships are at the centre of our model and key to everything we do. Learn more about our global partnerships here.
Our aim?
We brought together a coalition of actors from government, philanthropy, and industry to showcase strong and tangible impact on women’s health. And we achieved the following together:
Showcase of current achievements and how they can be sustainably expanded.
Strong commitment to partnerships and action from governments, philanthropy, and industry for impactful women’s health initiatives.
Increased global momentum for locally-led and locally-driven programs for surgical care and women’s health.
We invite you to continue taking further steps with us.
Re-watch our 2023 side-event here.
The first catalytic fund for surgical cares systems was launched at the GSF 2023 WHA side-event.
Event background
About
With just six years to go until 2030, we are off track in meeting many of the health-related SDG targets. Women in particular are being left behind. Addressing neglected women’s health needs represents one of the best investments in global health. It has been clearly shown that ensuring access to health care for women has tremendous personal, societal, and economic benefits.
Establishing a comprehensive continuum of care, integrated with strong surgical care systems, offers a powerful solution for saving lives and avoiding disability in areas affecting women, such as Maternal Health, Breast Cancer, and Cervical Cancer. However, in most Low- and Middle-Income Countries (LMICs), the lack of access to surgical care remains a major obstacle to achieving our SDG targets and Health Equity.
This Special World Health Assembly (WHA) side-event will focus on how the global health community can unleash powerful partnerships to achieve our common goals for gender equity in health, focusing on concrete solutions for a holistic approach along the women’s care continuum.
Rationale
To truly improve women’s health within a comprehensive continuum of care, we need to include strong surgical care systems as a key component.
Addressing neglected women’s health needs represents one of the best investments in global health, boosting the global economy by at least $1 trillion annually by 2040 and positive effects on families, communities, and society.
Women face severe inequity in accessing health care in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) resulting in poor health outcomes that lead to not only death and disability but significant negative economic impact on families and communities.
Women comprise the majority of the health workforce globally. They are important and valued leaders in global health, women’s health, and surgery, and in these roles are a key part of the solution.
Investing in women's health is a matter of health equity and an absolute must for achieving global health related targets. For example, maternal mortality rates are stagnating, and we are way off track to meet the SDG targets: every day,
800 women die during pregnancy, childbirth, and the postnatal period.
Over 5,000 stillbirths occur, 40% during labour.
The vast majority of these deaths are preventable: a strong continuum of care, including surgical care, will result in women and their newborns being healthier before, during, and after childbirth.
Surgical care is a key – and often overlooked – component of the patient care continuum. Evidence shows that investing in safe surgical care within the women’s health continuum will have a tremendous impact for women’s health.
Surgical care is a key missing link in ending health inequities for women:
For maternal health, surgical care can:
Prevent 100,000 maternal deaths yearly
Reduce maternal mortality by 30%
Reduce neonatal mortality by up to 70%
Reduce postoperative complications by 50%
For breast cancer, women in High-Income Countries have an 80% survival rate. Whereas in LMICs this number is 20%. Surgical care, as part of a comprehensive care package, can improve this inequity significantly.
For cervical cancer, there has been tremendous progress with screening. But once a woman has been diagnosed, there is a huge gap for surgical treatment options for her.
To truly improve women’s health within a comprehensive continuum of care, we need to include strong surgical care systems as a key component.
SURGfund is established and achieving tangible results for women’s health. It is now ready to increase the scale of impact. The fund was announced at WHA76 as the first and only coordinated funding mechanism for global surgical care. SURGfund focuses on locally led, locally driven programs that address local priorities and gender equity.
Last year, at WHA76, the GSF made women’s health a top strategic priority. Since that time, the GSF Programme on Women’s Health has grown considerably and is already achieving impact.
Through a dedicated Women’s Health stream in SURGfund, we can significantly expand this impact.
What happened previously at WHA?
In 2022 & 2023, we took important steps for global surgery. In both years, our respective side-events were ranked as the most well-attended of the entire WHA week, sending a strong signal to decision makers, and establishing a powerful global momentum for surgical care, culminating in the announcement of the first catalytic fund for surgical care systems in 2023.
Read about the commitments made by panellists in the event reports, and watch the event recordings.
Download the 2024 event report
Donate to help us achieve our mission for women’s health here
Get in touch at s.hofbauer@globalsurgeryfoundation.org for any queries.