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Members of PMNCH attended the 75th World Health Assembly (WHA), which took place in Geneva from 22-28 May 2022. The theme of this year’s Assembly was ‘Health for peace, peace for health’, which encapsulated the need to strengthen preparedness for and response to health emergencies.
To help set the scene for discussion on women’s, children’s and adolescents’ health during the Assembly, PMNCH and the CORE Group on 19 May hosted Lives in the Balance: Delivering Commitments in Humanitarian and Fragile Settings – the fourth e-summit in the past two years focusing on accelerating advocacy and accountability during the COVID-19 pandemic.
This event took up the theme of women’s, children’s and adolescents’ health in humanitarian and fragile settings. More than 880 people from 92 countries registered for the event, which featured contributions from PMNCH Board Chair Helen Clark, Minister of Public Health, Hygiene and Prevention of the Democratic Republic of Congo Dr Jean-Jacques Mbungani, Chief Nutritionist, U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Shawn Baker, Afghani midwifery leader Wais Qurani, Juan Pablo Uribe of the Global Financing Facility, and others. The toxic combination of COVID-19, climate change and expanding conflicts has exerted a heavy toll on the most vulnerable. As Clark said in her opening remarks: “We do not accept that women and children must bear the burden. We bear witness and we are resolved to resist –to speak out with one voice for a more equitable and peaceful world.”
During the World Health Assembly following, this focus on women, children and adolescents was taken forward in a number of debates and side sessions. Together with UNICEF, the GFF, WHO and other partners, PMNCH co-hosted a breakfast, ‘Child Survival Action: A roundtable for accelerated progress towards 2030’, focusing on strategies toaccelerate progress in 54 countries off-track to meet child mortality targets.
The PMNCH secretariat also took the opportunity to meet with partners from AMREF Africa, Save the Children, UNFPA, Global Financing Facility (GFF), and the Government of India, as well as many other leaders of delegations fromBangladesh, Burkina Faso, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, France, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Japan, Lesotho, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, United States of America, and Zambia.These meetings were also an opportunity to galvanize support around PMNCH Call to Action on COVID-19, as well as to discuss joint advocacy opportunities around maternal, newborn and child health, sexual and reproductive health and rights, and adolescent health and well-being.
These discussions will be followed up during the next PMNCH Board meeting, to be held on 14-15 July.
Nigeria
Democratic Republic of Congo
PMNCH remains committed to advocating with world leaders for the health and well-being of women, children, and adolescents throughout the world through its Call to Action on COVID-19 campaign and other initiatives as solutions to the many problems that negatively impact the lives of those most vulnerable. Decades of progress have been lost, there is not time to lose.