Inadequate sexual and reproductive care is killing women – and COVID-19 has made it worse. Each year 35 million women in countries with inadequate protections have abortions in unsafe conditions, 245 million women globally have experienced physical or sexual violence from their partner, and over one million women globally die from cervical and breast cancer.
The status quo is unacceptable.
Since 2007 global leaders and civil society organizations have convened at Women Deliver Conferences to advocate for the rights of girls and women across every aspect of their lives and in all their intersecting identities, driving investment — political and financial — in the lives of girls and women worldwide. In July 2023 in Kigali, Rwanda and virtually, the team at Women Deliver will once again bring together thousands of decision-makers from diverse fields and underrepresented populations to identify solutions and drive progress for gender equity.
As a leading global public health organization and a trusted partner of governments and civil society organizations around the world, we know that ensuring women attain the best possible level of health means ensuring that they have access to healthy environments, high quality preventive and curative health information and services, and social support throughout their lives.
This year, we are proud to support Women Deliver 2023 to catalyze conversations with stakeholders from around the world, break barriers, address challenges, and identify opportunities to advance gender equity, including sexual and reproductive health and rights and to improve the health, rights and wellbeing of girls and women, in all their intersecting identities.
Good health doesn’t just happen—it is generated when societies value and support health for everyone. Stigma and neglect keep health systems from measuring leading drivers of poor health in women. We are calling for investment in strengthening the capacity of health staff and national governments to collect, analyze and interpret local data on the burden of neglected sexual and reproductive health and rights topics in their countries. We must also look across women’s lives and more deeply understand the unique drivers of mortality including cancers and noncommunicable diseases. At the same time, we can work to support governments in adopting the proven tools and policies we know can improve the health of women and girls in their countries.
Our healthiest future requires collaboration with global, national and local partners that make an impact on today’s leading health challenges. While learning and sharing from global and regional experts is highly valued, local expertise, local context and local solutions are what we seek to uplift.
We are grateful to Women Deliver for creating a preeminent platform to spark commitment to gender equity and deliver progress for all.
We’ll see you there.