Frontline Health Workers Coalition

Today, on #BumpDay 2024, we celebrate @WhatToExpectProject ‘s 10th annual campaign to raise awareness around the critical demand for improved, equitable, and accessible maternal health care.   According to the CDC and UNICEF, over 80% of worldwide pregnancy-related deaths are preventable, and nearly 20% of births worldwide occur without a skilled birth attendant. The lack of access to trained health workers greatly increases the risk of birth complications. To address this gap in resource access and delivery, we must better support all cadres of health workers, including birth workers. Join us in supporting @whattoexpect this #BumpDay , because all mothers deserve access to thorough, compassionate health care.  

On May 27th, the Coalition hosted “Innovate, Invest, Empower, Protect: A Symposium for Shaping the Future of the Health Workforce” alongside the 77th World Health Assembly. We convened more than 200 leading policy makers, government delegates, technical experts, and advocates to advance the multidisciplinary health workforce as a global health priority. With the help of our members and cosponsors CARE USA, IntraHealth International, Living Goods, Johnson & Johnson, Pathfinder International, Project HOPE, Seed Global Health, and Smile Train, the symposium featured keynote remarks and two panels to examine approaches to ensuring enabling environments for all cadres of health workers and maximizing the impact of partnerships and implementation strategies. Speakers emphasized the importance of empowering the voices of health workers; fostering collaborative, cross-sectoral partnerships; and committing to long-term, sustainable investment. Read the highlights here: https://lnkd.in/edGc5mEs Thanks to Marielle Hart and Abbey Savin for writing this new post for our Blog! #WHA77 #InvestinHealthWorkers #Advocacy

Great to see that the Windhoek Statement: Investing in Africa's Health Workforce was finalized and published last week during #WHA77, a key advocacy moment! Thanks to the participants of the Africa Health Workforce Investment Forum (including our delegation of experts) for coming to agreement and ensuring equity and women health workers were emphasized. The #WindhoekStatement: ☑ REAFFIRMS that investing in the health workforce is critical for resilient health systems, health security, and population health and wellbeing; that spending on the health workforce pays a rich return in equity and inclusive economic growth; and that such spending should be seen as an investment to be nurtured, not a cost to be contained. 📣 URGES development partners, multilateral development banks, social partners and other stakeholders to implement the Africa Health Workforce Investment Charter, aligning with governments’ health workforce priorities and formalizing their commitments, as feasible, through national health workforce investment compacts. Read the entire text: #InvestInHealthWorkers

📣 Listen to our #WHA77 statement with IntraHealth International on Agenda Item 13.4 about the draft pandemic agreement. We urge greater and more strategic global investments in health workers in low- and middle-income countries. We propose changes to Article 7: - Provide clarification that creating and retaining a multidisciplinary health and care workforce encompasses clinicians, public health professionals, and community health workers. - Improve equity in the health workforce, ranging from fair remuneration to increased leadership of women. - Promote continued long-term investments in a health workforce that ensures a sustainable, multidisciplinary health workforce equipped to deliver quality essential health services in both stable and fragile settings. Many thanks to Kavitha Nallathambi of Project HOPE for reading our statement!

Huge thanks to all the speakers and participants at "Innovate, Invest, Empower, Protect: A Symposium for Shaping the Future of the Health Workforce" on the sidelines of #WHA77 this week!! With our members and cosponsors CARE USA, IntraHealth International, Living Goods, Johnson & Johnson, Pathfinder International, Project HOPE, Seed Global Health, and Smile Train, we convened more than 200 leading policy makers, government delegates, technical experts, and advocates to advance the multidisciplinary health workforce as a global health priority. The first part of the symposium examined best practices and locally-led solutions in creating enabling environments for all cadres of health workers. The second part focused on partnership and actions to accelerate and scale-up implementation. Speakers included Dr. Kenneth G. Ronquillo, Philippine Undersecretary for Health (Picture 1); Michele Sumilas, Assistant to the Administrator, USAID (Picture 2); Priya Basu, Executive Head, The Pandemic Fund (Picture 3, speaking); and leading experts from CARE, Johnson & Johnson, Living Goods, the Nursing Leadership Initiative at PEPFAR, Pathfinder, Partners In Health, Project HOPE, Seed Global Health in Uganda, Smile Train, Takeda, World Health Organization, and others. We look forward to sharing more content from this event with you soon! If you attended, post a comment about what stood out to you. Photos by Flavio Lucchesi.

📢 New Safeguarding Health in Conflict Coalition report very relevant to #WHA77 discussions and access to health care for all! It documents 2,562 incidents of violence against or obstruction of health care in 30 conflict zones in 2023, a 25% increase from 2022. Health facilities were bombed, looted, and repurposed for military use, while health workers faced killings, kidnappings, and arrests. Nearly half of these incidents were attributed to state forces, with explosive weapons and drones intensifying the destruction. This violence exacerbates the suffering of millions already deprived of essential needs due to war and displacement. Tragically, over 480 health workers were killed in 2023. These figures are likely undercounts due to data collection challenges and underreporting, especially in West and Central Africa. The international community must prioritize protecting health care in conflict zones to safeguard the lives and dignity of both health workers and patients. ❗Read the full report ➡️ https://lnkd.in/e6TJkXd6 IntraHealth is a founding member of the Safeguarding Health in Conflict Coalition. #NotATarget #HealthcareInConflict #ProtectHealthWorkers #HumanRights #ConflictZones

#WorldHypertensionDay recently raised awareness about one of the deadliest #NCDs around the 🌍. Read how cmmb's Medical Donation Program is tackling NCDs, starting with hypertension and diabetes! A new project aims to decrease the burden of NCDs by partnering with pharmaceutical companies to make sure health facilities have a reliable supply of the medications needed to treat hypertension and diabetes. CMMB is now piloting the program in #Kenya, working in close coordination with the Ministry of Health, Kenya to map out the nation’s supply chain and identify pain points in product distribution. And local #pharmacists and other health workers are directly informing our procurement plan! Learn more in this timely new post by Darnelle Bernier, Vice President of CMMB Medical Donations: https://lnkd.in/eCKHCViG

#ICYMI, GAIA Global Health celebrates its nursing scholars and fellows, on #IND2024 and every day. Meet Charity Banda and Mcwyson Wavala who are bringing quality health care services to the remotest areas of Malawi!

📣 High-level speakers will join our #WHA77 symposium on shaping the future health workforce! Register: https://lnkd.in/ei23NBMu & hear keynote remarks from ministers/country health leaders: 🌟 Hon. Dr. Robert Lucien Jean-Claude Kargougou, Minister of Health, #BurkinaFaso 🌟Hon. Dr. Teodoro Herbosa, Secretary of Health, Department of Health (Philippines) 🌟Hon. Sylvia Masebo, Minister of Health, #Zambia (TBC) 💫Our Frontline Health Workers Coalition Director Tina Flores will provide opening remarks. Our Steering Committee Chair, Crystal Lander, and Policy Cochair, Jed Meline, will cochair the event and moderate the panels.💫 Other speakers and panelists (in alphabetical order): ✨ Irene Atuhairwe, Country Director, #Uganda, Seed Global Health ✨Dr. Carlos Castillejos, M.D. DrPH., Global Head, Medical & Patient Assistance Solutions, Global Health Equity, Johnson & Johnson ✨Madhuvanti (Madhu) Deshmukh, Vice President Program Strategy and Innovations, CARE USA ✨Michelle Erwee, Global Head of Access to Medicines, Takeda ✨Jules Souleymane Gaye, Country Director, Burkina Faso, Living Goods ✨Paul Marsden, Senior Health Workforce Specialist, World Health Organization ✨Chikwe Mbweeda, Country Director, CARE Zambia ✨Dr. Uche Ralph-Opara Opara, Chief Health Officer, Project HOPE ✨Vicky Reed, Interim Executive Director, Sierra Leone, Partners In Health ✨Susannah Schaefer, President and CEO, Smile Train Read more about the symposium on our site: https://lnkd.in/exVScEjt #InvestInHealthWorkers

If you are attending the World Health Assembly in Geneva later this month, join this important symposium focusing on innovations to support health workers. Highlights will include keynote remarks from several Ministers of Health and conversations with leading experts on innovative programs and best-practices to bolster frontline health workers. World Health Organization #healthworkers #frontlinefirst Project HOPE, CARE, Living Goods, Frontline Health Workers Coalition, Seed Global Health, Takeda, Johnson & Johnson, Pathfinder International