Resource Type: Annual Report

Dear Women in Global Health community,

As in-person meetings resumed, 2022 was one of WGH’s most active and influential years. This year marked a major landmark with the first in-person Peer-to-Peer meeting of our global movement in Nairobi, Kenya, supported by our partner Amref. Representatives from 41 national WGH chapters met together with the global staff team to envision a future strategy for the WGH movement. The meeting was a major step forward and an inspiring moment for a virtual movement such as ours. As we stand back and take stock following a year of campaigning, evidence gathering, and influencing for gender equity in health, our fast-growing movement and global team have much to be proud of.

We kicked off the year proud to be accepted as a Non-State Actor in Official Relations with WHO, which allowed us to advocate for gender-transformative leadership in health with our first historic delegation to the World Health Assembly; 17 outstanding women were recognized for their work as women leaders through the Heroines of Health awards event, held during the World Health Summit in Berlin; and only 18 months since it was launched, the Gender Equal Health and Care Workforce Initiative led by France and WGH has continued to raise the need for gender equity in the health workforce and secure expressions of support —now 16 governments strong, with 8 multilateral organizations and 23 NGOs.

In 2022 we published three new reports on critical issues for women health workers: protection of women health workers with PPE designed for the needs and bodies of women; uncovering the 6 million women working unpaid and underpaid work in core health systems roles and shining a light on sexual exploitation, abuse and harassment of women health workers in their own words.

I thank Dr. Magda Robalo for her co-leadership and commitment to the WGH movement as she stepped into the role of Global Managing Director during my maternity leave. This was a great example of the power of women supporting women. I also thank all of you, the WGH team, our chapter leaders and members, our committed partners, and all our supporters for joining us this year to advocate for gender equity in health. This work would not be possible without you.

As the world comes to the end of the third year of a pandemic, we acknowledge the stress on health systems and on the women who, as 70% of health workers, largely deliver our health systems. We remain deeply concerned about women leaving the profession and the impact this will have on the achievement of global health goals including Universal Health Coverage. 2022 has reminded us that women in health are drivers of change in their spheres but are not always recognized for their professional expertise and knowledge. We have seen women losing ground in health leadership and a growing backlash against women’s rights in global policy fora and at the national level in many countries. We can only make sense of the suffering and the losses of global crises if we treat them as a break in history and change the status quo. Now is the time to move forward together, push back the backlash, and build back equal.

Stay with us as we move into an action-packed 2023.

Dr. Roopa Dhatt, Executive Director & Co-Founder, Women in Global Health

Members of the WGH Community, Supporters, and Allies,

Words cannot capture the immensity of the challenges we faced as a world in 2020. As a physician, I have seen the suffering of hospital wards this year, and how COVID-19 has devastated the world, exposing deep inequalities within and between countries. The pandemic has left women to bear the biggest impacts of the pandemic as shock absorbers in families, communities and societies. This gender inequality we have seen in the health and social workforce is one of those longstanding inequalities that weakens health systems everywhere, especially during a pandemic.

But our community, the Women in Global Health movement, has been on the pandemic frontlines working and advocating.

2020 was a milestone year for our movement, as we celebrated 5 years since four early-career women met on Twitter and decided to form Women in Global Health, determined to catalyze change.

Having run our global movement on volunteer ‘woman power’ for four years, in 2020 we raised funds to support a small staff and a new 5-year strategy committed to challenging power and privilege for gender equity in global health.

Our organizational development from 2019 to 2020 was our largest growth yet, receiving the first of several grants and additional funding sources, hiring our first team of paid full-time staff, and groundbreaking new research and events that have influenced policy and engaged high-level global health leaders. In 2020 alone, we have increased from 12 to 24 global chapters, widening our global reach and expanding from the policy level to grassroots engagement, including engaging with national governments and directly influencing policy change.

This year, we will channel our energies into expanding our work and deepening our impact. The voices of talented women leaders in global health have not always been heard during COVID-19 – we will focus on fixing systems and not women – we will demand more opportunities for women, especially women from underrepresented groups. And we will create more opportunities for women to lead change, through our national chapters and working groups.

COVID-19 is a global wake-up call, including for WGH. It is now time for a new social contract for all women. This next year, we plan to learn and grow with all of you by mobilizing global chapters, garnering commitment, holding leaders accountable, and advocating for change. You are the movement. When we work together we can transform global health and achieve a gender-equal world.

Sincerely,

Dr. Roopa Dhatt, Executive Director