The Generation Equality Forum is an opportunity for governments, philanthropists, and private sector leaders to deliver on their commitments to gender equality and fulfill the promises made in the Beijing Declaration for all women and girls by announcing bold new commitments for all girls’ and women’s rights, education, employment, and health.
Sign the Global Citizen petition to call on governments and stakeholders to make big, bold commitments at the Generation Equality Forum and beyond.
As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to evolve, we need to better understand the lived realities of women and adolescents in order to inform policy and program responses. The Finding Hope report, from the WHO Partnership for Maternal Newborn and Child Health (PMNCH), documents these realities, solutions being implemented, and outlines specific policy asks.
Pakistan's success with vaccination, even admist the COVID-19 pandemic, can be traced to its Lady Health Workers (LHWs). These women help mobilize other women in their communities to become decision-makers in their own households, starting with choices about their children’s health and well-being. And their approach works. According to a Harvard analysis of Pakistan’s Demographic and Health Survey, regions served by LHWs have better health outcomes in areas such as family planning, neonatal care, and immunization than regions that are not.
When men and women act as equal caregivers for their children, women's burdens are alleviated and child health improves. In this video, Teresa, a mother in Zambia, shares her dreams for her infant son Vusi: "I want him to grow to become a responsible man and also care for his children like I cared for him."
The effects of human-caused climate change - water and sanitation disruptions, increased waterborne diseases, crowding, urbanization, and displacement - will disproportionately affect women and girls. Women’s leadership will be key to mitigating its effects. Meet some climate leaders, featured by UN Women, doing just that.
Yeksim Chea, vice-chief of Duan Tom village in Cambodia, was intimately familiar with the burden of childhood illnesses in her village. So she used her leadership to teach mothers and families about diarrhea and pneumonia prevention and treatment. Women like Yeksim know what other women and families need, and when they’re in charge, children’s health improves.
Meet Yeksim and two other women - Esther and Rashmi - who are helping elevate and improve women's and children's health.
COVID-19 has been a stark reminder of the importance of strengthening routine immunization and primary healthcare, building national and sub-national capacities in epidemic preparedness, and laying the foundation for future disease and outbreak prevention. Immunization Agenda 2030 charts a way forward.
The Venice Forum is the starting point of an ambitious 2021-2022 roadmap to refocus national stimulus strategies on maternal, newborn, and child health, building on evidence that this pays dividends across all of society.
Esther Alamia, midwife in Uganda, advocates for integration of prenatal services with immunization to reach more mothers as part of Uganda's Integrated Child Health Days.