Welcome to Lives in the Balance: Equity in COVID-19 Response and Recovery

Decades of progress hang in the balance. No recovery without equity. No equity without a fair response to all.

PMNCH, the Global Financing Facility for Women, Children and Adolescents (GFF), Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, and CORE Group will co-host the third Lives in the Balance Summit: Equity in COVID-19 Response and Recovery. The Summit builds on previous Lives in the Balance summits, which revealed the urgent needs of women, children and adolescents during COVID-19, and enabled coordinated action by partners and governments to help meet those needs. At this timely and important event, we will: 

• reflect on how well countries have been able to implement equity enhancing strategies to protect the health and wellbeing of women, children and adolescents, particularly those with the least access to social, economic and political power; 

• share lessons, tools, and resources on why focusing on women, children and adolescents in national COVID-19 responses is key; 

• collaborate by identifying ways to promote equity and realize the PMNCH Call to Action on COVID-19, including aligning partners for common action around the 7 asks; and

• act by demonstrating how countries are improving women’s, children’s and adolescents’ health in the context of COVID-19, including making commitments to the COVID-19 Call to Action.