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1200 participants from over 80 countries
Gender equity, healthcare workforce, sexual and reproductive health and rights, and health financing were some of the main themes uniting more than 1200 participants from 84 countries who registered for Lives in the Balance: Equity in COVID-19 Response and Recovery, 17-18 May. The online summit – the third in a series of e-Summits in the past year co-organized by PMNCH with the CORE Group -- included special co-hosts Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance and the Global Financing Facility for Women, Children and Adolescents (GFF). Ilana Sod, Mexican TV presenter, journalist, producer, moderated the two-day event.
Lives in the Balance 3 provided an opportunity to hone in on national equity-enhancing strategies for women’s, children’s and adolescents’ health; reflect on the importance of global solidarity; and underline the crucial need for support of equitable vaccine delivery, leaving no one behind. It was also an opportunity to follow up on country commitments made in December 2020 in relation to PMNCH’s 7-point COVID-19 Call to Action, as well as presenting new countries who have joined, and increased the momentum of this global movement.
Opening the Summit, PMNCH Board Chair, Rt Hon. Helen Clark, noted the inequity and fragility of progress that has been laid bare by the pandemic, especially in the unequal distribution of vaccine doses. She highlighted that, “To date, only some two per cent of the total number of vaccinations administered have been administered in Africa. This geographic inequity puts at particular risk populations in low- and middle- income countries where the bulk of maternal, child and adolescent mortality occurs. The simple truth is that none of us are safe until all of us are safe.”
Like the previous two summits, a stellar group of high-level speakers kicked off the leadership panel, followed by interactive and engaging break-out sessions, the return of our engaging marketplace showcasing innovations from around the world around the education and leadership of the health workforce and enhanced service delivery, and interactive plenary sessions. The summit amplified the voice of the communities and featured, among others, Awa Marie Coll-Seck, State Minister to the Presidency for Senegal, Jennifer Klein, USA Executive Director and Co-Chair White House Gender Policy Council, and Wendy Morton, UK Minister for European Neighborhood and the Americas.
“I’ve been waiting for some time to participate in a summit with this name,” said H.E. Mia Amor Mottley, Prime Minister of Barbados, another speaker in the leadership panel segment. “It’s been a wish for all of us who come from small island developing states. The COVID-19 pandemic has disproportionately affected low-income countries and small island developing states. It has also affected middle-income countries in which 70% of the world’s poor people live, and we therefore are confronted by the reality of inequities with respect to access to medical technologies, laboratory services, essential medicines and vaccines.”
Women, children and adolescents are heavily affected by the pandemic’s devastating effects on economies, and social and community life. This group is bearing the brunt of what is called, the ‘shadow pandemic’, hindering progress that has been made so far on improving health and rights.
“The knock-on impact of the pandemic on childhood vaccinations in lower income countries has been devastating, with millions of children missing out on timely, life-saving immunizations,” said Anuradha Gupta, Deputy Chief Executive Officer of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance. Low- and middle-income countries demand a focused action with pro-equity investments, policies and programmes.
Program highlights also included a monologue by award-winning novelist Elif Shafak; an interview with singer-songwriter Neneh Cherry about the important message in her critically-acclaimed song, 7 Seconds and its relevance today; a spoken word poem by Titilope Sonuga written exclusively for the summit; and a conversation between Michelle Bachelet, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and youth activist Julieta Martinez, Founder of Tremendas and Co-founder of Latinas for Climate, addressing social and environmental determinants of health. “Education has a fundamental role in the life of the girl and their efficient participation matters,” said Martinez.
The second day of the event presented the new country commitments made by Malawi, Panama and South Africa, exhibiting the momentum created around the PMNCH COVID-19 Call to Action. Particularly, Malawi commits to strengthening sexual and reproductive health and rights by finalizing its relevant national strategies and incorporating responses to emergencies, including COVID-19. Panama is focusing on equity and primary care approaches to protect and improve the health of women, children and adolescents. And South Africa commits to reviewing national COVID-19 policies for adolescents and youth sexual and reproductive health to ensure adequacy and responsiveness of programmes.
Previously, in the December 2020 Lives in the Balance Summit, Afghanistan, India, Kenya, Liberia, Nigeria, Germany, SIDA (Sweden), United Kingdom, USAID and The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation announced their commitments for women’s, children’s and adolescents’ health and well-being in COVID-19. Further commitments are expected to be announced at the PMNCH Annual Accountability Breakfast in September 2021.
In conversation with Vandita Moraka, founder and CEO of One Future Collective; Anuradha Gupta, Deputy Chief Executive Officer of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance; and Monique Vledder, Practice Manager of the Global Financing Facility for Women, Children and Adolescents (GFF), our final panelists reflected on how global financing mechanisms will tackle the challenges posed by COVID-19, and how their institutions will need to adapt to protect the progress for women, children and adolescents throughout the pandemic.
To close the summit, Helga Fogstad and Lisa Hilma, Executive Directors of PMNCH and CORE Group, respectively, reminded us that COVID-19 devastating effects must also “spark the much needed conversations and revisions to the way we do things”, and that while “gender inequities have been further exposed by COVID-19, globally, across regions, in health workforce” and more, this is an opportunity not only to build back better, but to build forward equitably and efficiently, #PartnersForChange.
