There’s been 1 constant in the 12 months since COVID started:
women and girls’ health priorities do not pause for a pandemic.
Amidst COVID, we’ve seen mounting barriers stand between women and girls and their ability to make their health choices.
It doesn’t have to be this way.
This International Women’s Day, we’re exploring how solutions like self-care practices can bridge the gaps between women and girls and the health systems they rely on – during COVID-19, and well beyond. We asked PSI experts from across our sexual and reproductive health, malaria and water and sanitation programs to weigh in on:
- If self-care is fully utilized in achieving Universal Health Coverage, what would the future look like for women and girls around the world?
- How can self-care support health systems to reach and serve traditionally marginalized communities of women and girls?
- And what’s the intersection between self-care and gender-equity?
Listen in as:
- Dr. Daniel Koko, Chief of Party for PSI Niger’s PMI Impact Malaria, and Laura Leal, PSI Angola’s Malaria SBC Sr. Manager, share how self-care practices equips women and girls to prevent malaria, and support health systems to drive toward elimination, for good.
- Dr. Mariam Luyiga, a Senior SRH Technical Advisor for PSI Uganda’s Project DISC, and Tihut Mulugeta, DMPA-SC Project Advisor for PSI Ethiopia’s A360-RISE, share how contraceptive self-injectables can support overburdened health systems to meet women and girls’ sexual and reproductive health (SRH) needs.
- Ralitza Dekova, a Data Analyst for PSI Eswatini’s Project STAR, shares how self-care practices, like HIV-self-testing, can shift the paradigm for women and girls, everywhere.
- And special guest Shanzeh Mahmood, a Self-Care Analyst for the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation, who shares why self-care means opportunity for all women and girls.
Want to join the conversation?
Post a video on Twitter using the hashtags #GenerationEquality and #IWD2021 sharing how you see self-care shifting the power of health choices into the palm of women and girls’ hands.
Want more?
The Self-Care Trailblazer Group (SCTG)—a global coalition advocating for the integration of self-care practices and policies into national health systems – is hosting a community forum series to discuss barriers and enablers to self-care and develop global asks to advance global self-care advocacy objectives. Learn more.
Are you under 30?
On April 7 at 8-30 am EST, join the SCTG for an interactive youth forum to demystify self-care and explore how health systems can better support youth in accessing health services. Add your voice — your needs, your concerns, and your priorities — to the conversation to help meet the health care needs of young people, everywhere. Register today.