India
Founded:
The WGH India chapter is part of the global Women in Global Health (WGH) movement, which seeks to advance gender equity in health leadership in India. Since 2019, the WGH India Chapter has been actively working on key issues related to women in health and women’s health. WGH India seeks to amplify the experiences and knowledge of women working in the health sector, particularly frontline workers, and marginalized vulnerable groups, through dialogues, research, and advocacy efforts and to create a movement to demand the advancement of women’s leadership in the health sector in India. Currently, WGH India comprises more than 180 members, which include nurses, midwives, doctors, public health professionals, health policymakers, researchers, and private-sector health workers. Since January 2022, WGH India has been hosted at SAATHII (Solidarity and Action Against The HIV Infection in India), New Delhi.
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Our aims
The aim of WGH India is to create a synergistic ecosystem to build gender transformative leadership in healthcare by promoting diversity in policy making. It seeks to recognize the knowledge held by frontline workers and marginalized vulnerable groups, and amplify these voices – to have their opinions, best practices, challenges and recommendations heard via dialogues, research, and advocacy which feed into policy making.
Our work
Recognizing the substantial contributions of women throughout India’s response to COVID-19, WGH India contributed to shaping the discourse by organizing the 5-part Frontline Workers (FLWs) dialogue series for ASHAs, Nurses and Midwives, Self-Help Groups, Elected Women Representatives, and Allied Health professionals. Additionally, India chapter organized the Frontiers of Thinking and Evidence: Community Health Workers (CHWs) Webinar Series in collaboration with Oxford Policy Management (OPM), and a 10-part Technical Session Series on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on women’s health using a life course approach, in collaboration with the WHO India Country Office. Building on the wealth of knowledge generated through these dialogues and stakeholder engagement, WGH India engaged in advocating for women health workers’ rights during the Union Budget Announcements 2021-23, C20/G20 events as part of the Gender Equality and Disability Working Group 2023, and at high-level events such as WHA76, UNGA 2023, and 76th WHO SEARO Regional Meeting. Currently, WGH India is working on advocating for and building gender-responsive UHC in India and strengthening gender-transformative leadership amongst community health workers to increase the representation of women health workers in leadership positions in Indian healthcare.
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Resource Links
Words matter: political and gender analysis of speeches made by heads of government during the COVID-19 pandemic
Mar 26, 2021
Background The COVID-19 pandemic has put a spotlight on political leadership around the world. Differences in how leaders address the pandemic through public messages have practical implications for building trust…
Community Health Workers want lasting social contracts, not endless recognition
Jun 21, 2022
Women are 70% of health workers across the world, lead and shoulder a significant proportion of the pandemic response, and play key roles in health systems all over the world. …
India’s one million Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHA) win the Global Health Leaders award at the 75th World Health Assembly: Time to move beyond rhetoric to action?
Jul 5, 2022
Article by SumeghaAsthana & KaveriMayra on The Lancet Regional Health – Southeast Asia
