An Open Letter from Women in Global Health to the Leaders of the G7

Dear G7 leaders

The G7 meets during an exceptional time in our global history when covid-19 has infected around 175 million people and caused nearly four million deaths. The pandemic is far from over and it will not be the last. It has tipped the world into a deep global recession, felt hardest by countries and social groups with the least protection, at the centre of which are women and girls.

A “shadow pandemic” has struck women who have been the first to lose their jobs and experienced increases in both unpaid work and intimate partner violence. In low income countries, disruptions to maternal and reproductive health services have increased maternal deaths, unwanted pregnancies, and unsafe abortions. Growing poverty has forced girls out of school and into child marriages.

Viruses do not respect national borders. Unlike Ebola, this pandemic came into cities, hospitals, and homes in G7 countries. In an interconnected world we cannot safeguard the health of our own citizens when ignoring the rest of the world. While the virus continues to spread outside the G7, it may come back to haunt countries that have vaccinated their citizens. The G7 has to make this a break in history, change direction, and resolve to invest in a future based on equality and equity—the only solid foundation for global health and economic security.

Originally published in the BMJ Opinion

By Roopa Dhatt and Ann Keeling, Women in Global Health